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Key evangelical figures turn on Trump: ‘He used us’

Key evangelical figures turn on Trump: ‘He used us’

HuffPost reports: Evangelical figures who previously supported Donald Trump are backing off now that he’s announced his third bid for the presidency. “Donald Trump can’t save America,” Mike Evans told The Washington Post. “He can’t even save himself.” Evans was part of a group of evangelicals who met with Trump at the White House, and at one point gave him an award. Now, he says he’s done with Trump. “He used us to win the White House. We had to…

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Will space-based solar power be the next big thing for clean energy?

Will space-based solar power be the next big thing for clean energy?

Scientific American reports: When inventor Charles Fritts created the first crude solar photovoltaic cells in the 1880s, one might have thought the achievement would rapidly revolutionize global electricity production. There is, after all, no power source cheaper, cleaner and more ubiquitous than sunlight. Yet despite enormous (and ongoing) technical advances making solar power ever more capable and affordable, some 140 years on it still supplies less than 5 percent of the world’s electricity. For all its benefits, solar power does…

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Our planet, shaped by life

Our planet, shaped by life

Olivia Judson writes: I want to start with a proposition: if Earth had never come alive, it would be a profoundly different world. Conversely: the planet of today has, to a remarkable extent, been made what it is by the activities of lifeforms. Over the course of the planet’s long history, a history that extends back more than 4.5 billion years, lifeforms have shaped the rocks, the water, the air, even the colour of the sky. A Never-Life Earth would…

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Under Republican control, will the House become an unmanageable mess?

Under Republican control, will the House become an unmanageable mess?

Carl Hulse writes: Republicans managed to make their victory in the House seem like a loss by underperforming so badly. But while they did not win control by anywhere near the margin that they anticipated, they did win. And in the House, even the barest majority can work its will if it can hold together to produce 218 votes. The main question going forward is whether Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, who was nominated on Tuesday to lead the new…

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Pelosi, first woman speaker, to depart Democratic leadership in seismic shift

Pelosi, first woman speaker, to depart Democratic leadership in seismic shift

Politico reports: Nancy Pelosi, one of the most powerful speakers in modern U.S. history, will cede the helm of House Democratic leadership after 20 years and take on an unfamiliar role: Rank-and-file member. Since she reclaimed the top gavel in 2018, the first woman speaker — whose legislative prowess has powered her party’s agenda under four presidents — planned to give it up after this term. Yet her decision became more complicated, she has said, by the brutal assault of…

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Inside liberated Kherson, a major hub retaken by Ukrainian forces

Inside liberated Kherson, a major hub retaken by Ukrainian forces

James Rushton and Michael Weiss report: The road to Kherson, scattered with burned-out tanks and vehicles, at one point stops being functional due to a collapsed bridge, requiring a hastily constructed dirt track. The postapocalyptic scenery around Ukraine’s recently liberated city is unsurprising, considering that until about a week ago this area of otherwise unremarkable countryside was among the most fiercely contested pieces of land on Earth. Almost every building on both sides of the road shows some sign of…

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GOP operative found guilty of funneling Russian money to Donald Trump

GOP operative found guilty of funneling Russian money to Donald Trump

The Washington Post reports: A Republican political strategist was convicted of illegally helping a Russian businessman contribute to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016. Jesse Benton, 44, was pardoned by Trump in 2020 for a different campaign finance crime, months before he was indicted again on six counts related to facilitating an illegal foreign campaign donation. He was found guilty Thursday on all six counts. Elections “reflect the values and the priorities and the beliefs of American citizens,” Assistant U.S….

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As resignations roil Twitter, Elon Musk tries persuading some workers to stay

As resignations roil Twitter, Elon Musk tries persuading some workers to stay

The New York Times reports: Hours before a Thursday deadline that Elon Musk had given Twitter employees to decide whether to stay or leave their jobs, the social media company appeared to be in disarray. Mr. Musk and his advisers held meetings with some Twitter workers whom they deemed “critical” to stop them from leaving, four people with knowledge of the conversations said. He sent out confusing messages about the company’s remote work policy, appearing to soften his stance on…

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What is Mastodon? A social media expert explains how the ‘federated’ network works and why it won’t be a new Twitter

What is Mastodon? A social media expert explains how the ‘federated’ network works and why it won’t be a new Twitter

Twitter users who are fleeing to the social media platform Mastodon are finding it to be a different animal. Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images By Brian C. Keegan, University of Colorado Boulder In the wake of Elon Musk’s noisy takeover of Twitter, people have been looking for alternatives to the increasingly toxic microblogging social media platform. Many of those fleeing or hedging their bets have turned to Mastodon, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of new users since Twitter’s…

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Did humans inadvertently produce super insects?

Did humans inadvertently produce super insects?

Lina Zeldovich writes: One day, about 60 million years ago, a little leafcutter moth landed on an ancient sycamore tree to lay eggs in its leaves. The larvae grew, nestled inside a comfy enclosure akin to a sleeping bag made between the leaf’s thin layers. Once hatched, they ate their way through to the surface and left to perpetuate their kin. Most of the chewed-up leaves swirled down to the earth, decomposing shortly after. But this leaf, along with a…

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Trump ally, billionaire GOP megadonor Ronald Lauder won’t back Trump’s 2024 run for president

Trump ally, billionaire GOP megadonor Ronald Lauder won’t back Trump’s 2024 run for president

CNBC reports: Billionaire and GOP megadonor Ronald Lauder won’t help finance Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign for president, his spokesman told CNBC on Wednesday. Lauder, an heir to the Estée Lauder fortune, is the latest Republican megadonor to distance himself from Trump as the former president launches a third bid for the White House. Lauder contributed almost $100,000 to the Republican National Committee in 2019 when the political organization was helping Trump get reelected, according the nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets….

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Democrats are openly rooting for another Trump presidential bid

Democrats are openly rooting for another Trump presidential bid

Chris Cillizza writes: As Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he is running for president for a third time, one unlikely group was cheering him on: Democrats. “As an American, the idea of another Trump campaign and all of his lies and divisiveness and his efforts to undermine American democracy is an absolute horror show,” Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told The New York Times ahead of Trump’s announcement. “On the other hand, I…

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Kari Lake’s loss in Arizona destroys ‘Stop the Steal’

Kari Lake’s loss in Arizona destroys ‘Stop the Steal’

In an editorial, the Wall Street Journal says: If anyone needs more evidence that “Stop the Steal” was a loser for the GOP this year, the party’s Arizona wipeout is definitive. On Monday Kari Lake joined the list of Republicans in the Grand Canyon State who ran on the stolen 2020 election and lost. Ms. Lake, a former TV news anchor, had all the sparkling charisma that Donald Trump’s other favorite candidates lacked. She loved telling off journalists. She called…

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Ukraine tells allies it may not be able to recover from more Russian attacks on energy systems

Ukraine tells allies it may not be able to recover from more Russian attacks on energy systems

Politico reports: The Ukrainian government is warning Western allies that it is anticipating increased Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure in the coming days and that Kyiv does not have enough replacement parts to bring heat and power back online if those occur, according to two congressional officials and one Western official briefed on U.S. intelligence. Ukrainian officials have in recent days asked their American counterparts and more than half a dozen European countries for assistance preparing for a prolonged…

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