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Category: Law/Crime

In the United States, citizens choose the president. The president does not choose citizens

In the United States, citizens choose the president. The president does not choose citizens

Chris Feliciano Arnold writes: Because I was naturalized as a child, I didn’t have to take the famous civics test—I was still learning that stuff in school. I just rolled my fingertips in wet ink and held still for a three-quarter-profile photograph that revealed my nose shape, ear placement, jawline, and forehead contour. My parents sat beside me for an interview with an immigration officer who asked me my name, where I lived, and who took care of me. But…

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Steve Bannon under pressure to release his own Epstein videotapes

Steve Bannon under pressure to release his own Epstein videotapes

NBC News reports: In 2021, the New York Post ran an online trailer for an upcoming documentary about Jeffrey Epstein that was produced by former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon. In the video, Bannon is on camera questioning Epstein about “all of the depravity you’ve done against young women,” among other things. But that documentary never came out. Now, Jeffrey Epstein’s brother, Mark, is asking for Bannon to show him the unseen footage. “Let me see the videotapes,” he told…

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Trump sues Murdoch, Dow Jones over WSJ story on Epstein birthday letter

Trump sues Murdoch, Dow Jones over WSJ story on Epstein birthday letter

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump on Friday followed through on his threat to sue media mogul Rupert Murdoch after his Wall Street Journal published an article saying that Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a “bawdy” letter for Epstein’s 50th birthday, courts records show. Trump filed a lawsuit related to alleged libel, assault or slander against Murdoch, the Journal’s publisher, Dow Jones & Co., and the two reporters who wrote the article in federal court for the Southern District of Florida, according…

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FBI agents were told to ‘flag’ any Epstein records that mentioned Trump, says Sen. Durbin

FBI agents were told to ‘flag’ any Epstein records that mentioned Trump, says Sen. Durbin

CNBC reports: FBI agents assigned earlier this year to review investigative files in the criminal case against notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were instructed to “flag” any documents that mentioned President Donald Trump, Sen. Richard Durbin said Friday. Durbin’s claim came as the Illinois Democrat sent the Justice Department and FBI letters asking them to explain what his office called “apparent discrepancies regarding the handling of the Epstein files and findings from a July 7 Department of Justice (DOJ) memorandum…

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Survivor calls for the Epstein files to be released

Survivor calls for the Epstein files to be released

  We speak to a survivor of sexual abuse perpetrated by Jeffrey Epstein and enabled by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell. Teresa Helm was sexually assaulted by Epstein at what she was told was a job interview in the early 2000s. She now works as the survivor services coordinator for the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and joins many voices calling for the release of federal documents pertaining to Epstein’s criminal case, though Helm emphasizes that the goal of their release…

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He came to the U.S. to support his sick child. He was detained. Then he was disappeared

He came to the U.S. to support his sick child. He was detained. Then he was disappeared

By Melissa Sanchez, ProPublica; Perla Trevizo, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune; Mica Rosenberg and Jeff Ernsthausen, ProPublica; Ronna Rísquez, Alianza Rebelde Investiga; and Adrián González, Cazadores de Fake News This story was originally published by ProPublica José Manuel Ramos Bastidas never set foot in the U.S. — at least not as a free man. He left Venezuela in January 2024, hoping to earn enough money to pay for his newborn son’s medical needs. Born with a respiratory condition, the family’s…

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Inside an ICE women’s prison: ‘Even God cannot hear us here’

Inside an ICE women’s prison: ‘Even God cannot hear us here’

Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk was held as a political prisoner for 45 days in a South Louisiana processing facility. She writes: As a developmental scientist in training, I secretly feel a sense of gratitude for not having a child of my own, knowing how costly adverse early childhood experiences and family separation can be on children’s development. All children should have the opportunity to live, grow, and flourish in nurturing environments, surrounded by the love, peace, and support…

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Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov: Yes, Israel is engaged in a genocide in Gaza

Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov: Yes, Israel is engaged in a genocide in Gaza

  We speak with leading Israeli American historian Omer Bartov about his latest essay for The New York Times, headlined “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.” Bartov cites the United Nations definition of “genocide,” which includes an intent to destroy a group of people that makes it impossible for the group to reconstitute itself. “This is precisely what Israel is trying to do,” he says. “Israel is trying to concentrate the population of Gaza in…

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In Trump’s Star Chamber the names of ICE lawyers are kept secret

In Trump’s Star Chamber the names of ICE lawyers are kept secret

The Intercept reports: Inside a federal immigration courtroom in New York City last month, a judge took an exceedingly unusual step: declining to state the name of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement attorney pressing to deport asylum seekers. “We’re not really doing names publicly,” said Judge ShaSha Xu — after stating her own name and those of the immigrants and their lawyers. It was the first of two separate instances The Intercept identified in which judges chose to withhold the…

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Trump and Johnson try to distance themselves from Epstein files controversy. Over to you, Pam

Trump and Johnson try to distance themselves from Epstein files controversy. Over to you, Pam

The Washington Post reports: One of the leading Republicans on Capitol Hill broke with the Trump administration’s decision not to release the files of deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as the controversy deepened over the handling of an issue that has caused unprecedented division among the GOP base. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson that he supported the release of the Epstein files, days after President Donald Trump’s Justice Department said the matter was effectively closed….

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Foreign journalists in the U.S. are self-censoring to protect themselves from the Trump regime

Foreign journalists in the U.S. are self-censoring to protect themselves from the Trump regime

Poynter reports: In 2021, Venezuelan journalist Luz Mely Reyes moved to the United States because she didn’t want to be silenced. As an outspoken advocate for the freedom of expression, Reyes no longer felt safe in Venezuela, where reporters have been threatened, arrested and beaten. Now in the U.S., however, she finds that she must often silence herself. “In my country (Venezuela), I never self-censored. Here, I have to avoid some topics because I feel that it’s dangerous for my…

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ICC lawyer linked to Netanyahu advisor warned Khan to drop war crimes probe or be ‘destroyed’

ICC lawyer linked to Netanyahu advisor warned Khan to drop war crimes probe or be ‘destroyed’

  Middle East Eye reports: The British chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was warned in May that if arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant were not withdrawn, he and the ICC would be “destroyed”. The warning was delivered to Karim Khan by Nicholas Kaufman, a British-Israeli defence lawyer at the court who told Khan he had spoken to Netanyahu’s legal advisor and, according to a note of the meeting lodged…

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Can AI companies keep stealing books to train their large language models?

Can AI companies keep stealing books to train their large language models?

Alex Reisner writes: Should tech companies have free access to copyrighted books and articles for training their AI models? Two judges recently nudged us toward an answer. More than 40 lawsuits have been filed against AI companies since 2022. The specifics vary, but they generally seek to hold these companies accountable for stealing millions of copyrighted works to develop their technology. (The Atlantic is involved in one such lawsuit, against the AI firm Cohere.) Late last month, there were rulings…

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Supreme Court promotes ‘lawlessness’ through decision on gutting Education Department

Supreme Court promotes ‘lawlessness’ through decision on gutting Education Department

Democracy Docket reports: The Supreme Court let the Trump administration go forward with mass layoffs at the Department of Education. SCOTUS lifted a lower court order preventing the department from implementing a “reduction in force,” a large-scale federal layoff mechanism, to eliminate around 50% of the department’s workforce. The court offered no explanation for its decision. The decision gets Trump closer to his goal of shuttering the Education Department, which has long been a popular target for Republicans and conservative…

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Two-thirds of the DOJ lawyers defending Trump policies in court have quit

Two-thirds of the DOJ lawyers defending Trump policies in court have quit

Reuters reports: The U.S. Justice Department unit charged with defending against legal challenges to signature Trump administration policies – such as restricting birthright citizenship and slashing funding to Harvard University – has lost nearly two-thirds of its staff, according to a list seen by Reuters. Sixty-nine of the roughly 110 lawyers in the Federal Programs Branch have voluntarily left the unit since President Donald Trump’s election in November or have announced plans to leave, according to the list compiled by…

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