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Jayapal draws ire of fellow Democrats over bungled Ukraine letter that she apparently lied about

Jayapal draws ire of fellow Democrats over bungled Ukraine letter that she apparently lied about

The Washington Post reports: When Russian President Vladimir Putin this summer began escalating his threat of using nuclear weapons over the United States’ aid to Ukraine, the Congressional Progressive Caucus wanted to respond. A two-page letter to President Biden, drafted in July, was meant to reaffirm House liberals’ belief that diplomatic engagement is critical at such points of escalation to avoid nuclear war. It was not meant to push the administration to take a radically different approach to foreign policy,…

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Judge considers stopping Phoenix ballot drop box watchers

Judge considers stopping Phoenix ballot drop box watchers

The Associated Press reports: A federal judge in Arizona said he hopes to decide by Friday whether to order members of a group to stop monitoring outdoor ballot drop boxes in the Phoenix area in an effort that has sparked allegations of voter intimidation. The groups Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino asked U.S. District Judge Michael Liburdi during a Wednesday hearing to prevent members of Clean Elections USA from gathering within sight of drop boxes in Maricopa…

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Overt U.S. antisemitism returns with Trump, Kanye West: ‘Something is different’

Overt U.S. antisemitism returns with Trump, Kanye West: ‘Something is different’

The Washington Post reports: Longtime watchdogs of antisemitism say there is nothing new about the kinds of derogatory comments about Jews that the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, former president Donald Trump, sundry far-right political candidates and others have made in recent weeks. But what has struck some experts is how blatant the comments about Jews are at a time when incidents of harassment, vandalism and violence against them have been at their highest levels since at least…

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Russian army’s quiet fatal flaw: No sergeants

Russian army’s quiet fatal flaw: No sergeants

Jeff Stein writes: Of all the post-invasion excuses given for the Russian army’s failures in Ukraine—corruption, bad logistics, poor execution of a bad idea—the most obvious one, to me, has gotten short shrift: The Russian army has virtually no sergeants— or as retired Army Gen. Mark Hertling put it to me recently, “no functioning NCO corps.” U.S. veterans have to be gobsmacked as I was hearing this for the first time. From the moment screaming drill instructors “welcomed” us to…

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Scientists working in a subterranean lab in China discover secrets of first stars

Scientists working in a subterranean lab in China discover secrets of first stars

Motherboard reports: Scientists have opened an unprecedented window into the universe’s very first stars by conducting nuclear fusion experiments in a subterranean laboratory located 1.5 miles under China’s Jinping Mountains, reports a new study. The results resolve a longstanding mystery about one of the oldest stars ever discovered, while also shedding new light on the murky reactions that powered the ancestors of all modern stars. One of the biggest quests in astronomy is to directly observe the first stars that…

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The saga of Marco Rubio and the Proud Boys

The saga of Marco Rubio and the Proud Boys

Jonathan Chait writes: Monday morning, Senator Marco Rubio sent out a tweet with the horrifying news that “one of our canvassers wearing my T-shirt and a Desantis hat was brutally attacked by 4 animals who told him Republicans weren’t allowed in their neighborhood.” Rubio’s account was quickly repeated by conservative organs like the New York Post (“Rubio campaign canvasser ‘brutally’ beaten by man who told him GOPers not allowed in his neighborhood”), National Review (“Rubio Supporter Savagely Beaten While Canvassing in Florida”), Washington Free Beacon (“Marco Rubio Canvasser Violently Attacked in…

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The Republican plan to impeach Joe Biden

The Republican plan to impeach Joe Biden

Barton Gellman writes: Sometime next year, after an interval of performative investigations, Republicans in the House are going to impeach Joe Biden. This may not be their present plan, but they will work themselves up to it by degrees. The pressure from the MAGA base will build. A triggering event will burst all restraints. Eventually, Republicans will leave themselves little choice. This prediction rests, of course, on the assumption that Republicans will win control of the House next month, which…

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U.S. officials had a secret oil deal with the Saudis. Until they realized they’d been duped

U.S. officials had a secret oil deal with the Saudis. Until they realized they’d been duped

The New York Times reports: As President Biden was planning a politically risky trip to Saudi Arabia this summer, his top aides thought they had struck a secret deal to boost oil production through the end of the year — an arrangement that could have helped justify breaking a campaign pledge to shun the kingdom and its crown prince. It didn’t work out that way. Mr. Biden went through with the trip. But earlier this month, Saudi Arabia and Russia…

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Climate pledges are falling short as we head toward environmental catastrophe

Climate pledges are falling short as we head toward environmental catastrophe

The New York Times reports: Countries around the world are failing to live up to their commitments to fight climate change, pointing Earth toward a future marked by more intense flooding, wildfires, drought, heat waves and species extinction, according to a report issued Wednesday by the United Nations. Just 26 of 193 countries that agreed last year to step up their climate actions have followed through with more ambitious plans. The world’s top two polluters, China and the United States,…

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Abandoned Russian base holds secrets of retreat in Ukraine

Abandoned Russian base holds secrets of retreat in Ukraine

Reuters reports: The Russian soldiers had fled weeks before. But they left their traces everywhere. Concrete steps led into the basement of their hastily abandoned headquarters in this small riverside town in eastern Ukraine. A bunker smelling of damp lay behind a steel door marked “Command Group.” Papers, some charred, were stuffed into a furnace. Others were scattered across the floor. In a floral notebook, an unnamed staff officer left a sketch of a cartoon soldier and mused about going…

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Russia is recruiting Afghan commandos

Russia is recruiting Afghan commandos

Lynne O’Donnell writes: Members of Afghanistan’s elite National Army Commando Corps, who were abandoned by the United States and Western allies when the country fell to the Taliban last year, say they are being contacted with offers to join the Russian military to fight in Ukraine. Multiple Afghan military and security sources say the U.S.-trained light infantry force, which fought alongside U.S. and other allied special forces for almost 20 years, could make the difference Russia needs on the Ukrainian…

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Illegal Chinese ‘police stations’ uncovered in the Netherlands, reports say

Illegal Chinese ‘police stations’ uncovered in the Netherlands, reports say

Politico reports: China has illegally opened at least two “police stations” in the Netherlands since 2018 in an attempt to pressure Chinese dissidents, RTL Nieuws and Follow the Money revealed Tuesday. The so-called overseas service stations offer diplomatic services to Chinese Dutch citizens, such as renewing their driving licenses — but they also attempt to silence Chinese dissidents in Europe, the media outlets reported, citing a Chinese victim named Wang Jingyu. Wang told Dutch journalists his story, saying that he…

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The wreckage of neoliberalism

The wreckage of neoliberalism

Chris Murphy writes: For millions of Americans—especially those who don’t live in the high-income urban mega-economies—it feels like life itself is unspooling. This sense of dislocation is what Donald Trump’s politics of grievance seized upon when he launched his campaign for the presidency in 2015. He offered easy scapegoats—immigrants, Muslims, and economic elites—to blame for the loss of meaning and economic autonomy felt by many Americans. He signaled an intent to break America apart from the world economy and the…

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Masked and armed vigilantes are staking out Arizona ballot boxes with the GOP’s blessing

Masked and armed vigilantes are staking out Arizona ballot boxes with the GOP’s blessing

Vanity Fair reports: With exactly two weeks to go until the midterm elections, Democrats and Republicans are out here making their respective cases re: why voters should allow them to either hold on to their majority in Congress or retake power. One way the two parties have diverged on tactics? Well, the GOP appears to be the only one openly encouraging its base to stake out ballot boxes and intimidate would-be voters. With guns. On Monday, Paul Penzone, the sheriff…

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