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Category: Law/Crime

Counting the Vote: A Firing Line special with Margaret Hoover

Counting the Vote: A Firing Line special with Margaret Hoover

  In this one-hour documentary, Margaret Hoover embarks on a journey to explore voting systems across the United States. She examines methods to increase voter confidence and sheds light on states that face challenges in their vote count processes as the 2024 election approaches. “Counting the Vote” looks back at two of the most bitterly contested elections in American history—2000 and 2020—and examines subsequent efforts to make the casting and counting of ballots more efficient and inclusive. Several pivotal swing…

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Gov. Gavin Newsom has the chance to make AI history

Gov. Gavin Newsom has the chance to make AI history

Vox reports: Advocates say it is a modest law setting “clear, predictable, common-sense safety standards” for artificial intelligence. Opponents say it is a dangerous and arrogant step that will “stifle innovation.” In any event, SB 1047 — California state Sen. Scott Wiener’s proposal to regulate advanced AI models offered by companies doing business in the state — has now passed the California State Assembly by a margin of 48 to 16. Back in May, it passed the Senate by 32 to 1. Once the…

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The GOP is making false claims about noncitizens voting. It’s affecting real voters

The GOP is making false claims about noncitizens voting. It’s affecting real voters

NPR reports: Earlier this month, Alabama voter William Pritchett received an unexpected letter from election officials telling him his voter registration was made inactive and was “on the path for removal from the statewide voter list.” He was among more than 3,200 people on the state’s voter rolls whose registrations had been flagged by Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen as part of a new initiative to identify possible noncitizens. Yet Pritchett was born in Alabama and has always been…

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Top Brazilian judge orders suspension of X platform in Brazil amid feud with Musk

Top Brazilian judge orders suspension of X platform in Brazil amid feud with Musk

The Associated Press reports: A Brazilian Supreme Court justice on Friday ordered the suspension of Elon Musk’s social media giant X in Brazil after the tech billionaire refused to name a legal representative in the country, according to a copy of the decision seen by The Associated Press The move further escalates the monthslong feud between the two men over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Justice Alexandre de Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be…

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U.S. Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery

U.S. Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery

CNN reports: The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery. “Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies,…

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Decision on Georgia election board threatens Kemp’s détente with Trump

Decision on Georgia election board threatens Kemp’s détente with Trump

The Washington Post reports: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has enjoyed an unusually friendly public rapport in recent days with former president Donald Trump. After years of heaping insults on Kemp for refusing to help reverse Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, Trump praised the governor on Truth Social this month for his “help and support.” On Thursday, Kemp plans to attend a fundraiser in Atlanta for the Republican presidential nominee, who is locked in a virtual tie with…

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The superseding Trump indictment charts Jack Smith’s path forward

The superseding Trump indictment charts Jack Smith’s path forward

Anna Bower, Matt Gluck, Quinta Jurecic, Natalie K. Orpett, and Benjamin Wittes write: On Tuesday, Special Counsel Jack Smith unveiled a superseding indictment of Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. for his effort to overturn the 2020 election. Trump, for his part, didn’t wait long to weigh in. Posting on Truth Social, he declared the indictment “ridiculous” and part of “the single greatest sabotage of our Democracy in History.” The former president seemed particularly insulted that the grand jury handed up…

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Immigrants to the U.S. are held to higher standards than those applied to Trump

Immigrants to the U.S. are held to higher standards than those applied to Trump

Edgar Chen and Dan Ross write: From the moment Donald Trump descended his gilded escalator to launch his first presidential campaign in 2015, impugning immigrants as criminals has been the centerpiece of his political identity. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists,” he said that day. This year, “migrant crime” has become a cornerstone of Trump’s campaign. Moments after he became a convicted felon himself in May, Trump took the opportunity not only to attack the justice system but…

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New HRW report: Palestinian healthcare workers chained, starved, sexually abused

New HRW report: Palestinian healthcare workers chained, starved, sexually abused

  We speak with Human Rights Watch researcher Milena Ansari about the organization’s new report detailing the torture of Palestinian medical workers in Israeli prisons. HRW spoke with eight doctors, paramedics and nurses who were picked up in Gaza before being transferred to the notorious Sde Teiman camp and other facilities, where they say they suffered beatings, starvation, humiliation, electric shocks and other forms of abuse. The men also describe threats of sexual violence during brutal interrogations and seeing another…

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Telegram’s loudest defender: the global crypto industry

Telegram’s loudest defender: the global crypto industry

The New York Times reports: Shortly after Pavel Durov, the founder of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested in France on Saturday, the chief executive of the cryptocurrency company Tether called the situation “very concerning.” Crypto enthusiasts pledged to support Mr. Durov, posting the hashtag #FreeDurov. Others investors declared that the arrest was an assault on free speech. “Can’t even imagine a day without Telegram,” one crypto user wrote. The wave of support for Mr. Durov was a reflection of…

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Georgia governor inquires whether he can remove MAGA election board members after series of alarming votes

Georgia governor inquires whether he can remove MAGA election board members after series of alarming votes

The Independent reports: Georgia’s governor has asked his attorney general if he can remove state election board members after three right-wing members approved a series of alarming new rules. Republican Governor Brian Kemp asked Attorney General Christopher Carr for “guidance” on whether he can remove members of the state election board, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. This comes after three right-wing members of the five-person board championed and passed a series of new rules that add extra requirements for county election…

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Telegram founder’s arrest part of broad investigation, French prosecutors say

Telegram founder’s arrest part of broad investigation, French prosecutors say

The New York Times reports: Prosecutors in France said on Monday that Pavel Durov, the entrepreneur who runs the Telegram messaging platform, had been arrested in connection with an investigation opened last month into criminal activity on the app and a lack of cooperation with law enforcement. Mr. Durov, 39, was detained on Saturday at Le Bourget Airport near Paris after landing on a private plane from Azerbaijan. He had not been charged and remained in custody, which can be…

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Telegram becomes free speech flashpoint after its founder, Pavel Durov, is arrested in France

Telegram becomes free speech flashpoint after its founder, Pavel Durov, is arrested in France

The New York Times reports: Telegram, founded in 2013 by the Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, has grown into one of the world’s largest online communication tools and is central to everyday life in countries like Russia, Ukraine and India for messaging, getting independent news and exchanging views. The company’s growth — it now has more than 900 million users — has been driven partly by a commitment to free speech. Telegram’s light oversight of what people say or do on…

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Labor board confirms Amazon drivers are employees, in finding hailed by union

Labor board confirms Amazon drivers are employees, in finding hailed by union

The Washington Post reports: In a loss for Amazon that could force it to meet the Teamsters union at the bargaining table, a regional National Labor Relations Board director said Thursday that the company is a joint employer of some of the thousands of contractor delivery drivers who deliver its packages. The e-commerce giant has previously argued that it should not be responsible for alleged union busting or required to bargain with driver unions, because the drivers who ferry packages…

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Countries fueling Israel’s Gaza war may be complicit in war crimes, experts warn

Countries fueling Israel’s Gaza war may be complicit in war crimes, experts warn

The Guardian reports: Israeli tanks, jets and bulldozers bombarding Gaza and razing homes in the occupied West Bank are being fueled by a growing number of countries signed up to the genocide and Geneva conventions, new research suggests, which legal experts warn could make them complicit in serious crimes against the Palestinian people. Four tankers of American jet fuel primarily used for military aircraft have been shipped to Israel since the start of its aerial bombardment of Gaza in October….

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