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Category: Politics

The Ceuta incident has, predictably, been exploited by boosters of the far right

The Ceuta incident has, predictably, been exploited by boosters of the far right

Anne Applebaum writes: Mostly young, mostly male Moroccans crawling onto beaches, climbing hills, scaling walls, jumping over fences, surging past police in order to get into Europe: The photographs and videos that emerged from Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, on July 29 and 30 looked very much like migrant-terror videos, deliberately designed to be broadcast by the international far right. So closely did this incident resemble the “invasion” that MAGA and its European friends have long said is…

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GOP staffers say the party has a ‘groyper’ problem — ‘a generation of rabid, incompetent idiots’

GOP staffers say the party has a ‘groyper’ problem — ‘a generation of rabid, incompetent idiots’

Politico reports: The grownups are worried. In group chats and at happy hours, some GOP veterans fret about the rising generation of young staffers in their party. The recurring complaint: The pipeline that feeds young conservative talent into government jobs is defective — if not broken. This isn’t just the standard middle-aged lament that the kids aren’t all right. It’s a criticism aimed at institutions like the Heritage Foundation that purport to identify and train the party’s future governing class….

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As an instigator of global disorder, Trump is leading the U.S. to strategic defeat in Iran, allies fear

As an instigator of global disorder, Trump is leading the U.S. to strategic defeat in Iran, allies fear

Steven Erlanger writes: To America’s allies, President Trump’s war in Iran, now in its sixth month, seems headed for a strategic defeat. They worry that the inability of the United States to turn military superiority into a sustainably changed Iran has displayed a vulnerability that Russia and China will welcome. In addition, Mr. Trump’s goals remain unmet, and the U.S. military is running short on key armaments that it needs for global reach. For the moment, Iran is seemingly resolute…

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Scope of hacks on U.S. water supply widens as evidence points to Iran, but Trump blames Minnesota

Scope of hacks on U.S. water supply widens as evidence points to Iran, but Trump blames Minnesota

The New York Times reports: The scope of cyberattacks on U.S. water systems has grown to include at least seven states and may be far wider, officials and experts warned, as the authorities raced to safeguard the nation’s water supply against an assault that increasingly appeared to be the work of Iran. While there were no indications that any water supply had been altered or made unsafe to drink, state and local officials throughout the country were on high alert…

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Israel bombards Gaza, days after Trump announced deal with Hamas to advance cease-fire

Israel bombards Gaza, days after Trump announced deal with Hamas to advance cease-fire

The New York Times reports: Israeli strikes in Gaza on Saturday killed at least two people and damaged warehouses for medical supplies, Palestinian officials said, despite a recent deal between President Trump’s Board of Peace and Hamas to advance the Gaza cease-fire. One of the strikes destroyed and damaged the warehouses at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza before dawn on Saturday, said Khalil Dagran, a hospital spokesman. The outpatient clinic was also damaged, he added, though there were…

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In dropping Reflecting Pool case, Pirro provokes Trump’s wrath

In dropping Reflecting Pool case, Pirro provokes Trump’s wrath

The New York Times reports: Jeanine Pirro faced the cameras on July 2 with characteristic self-assurance to announce the indictment of the 67-year-old ex-Olympian David Hearn for trashing “sacred” government property, President Trump’s highly prized but shoddily renovated Reflecting Pool. “This is not only a priority for the president, but for myself,” said Ms. Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, disclosing felony vandalism charges against Mr. Hearn for touching the lining of the pool in front of…

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The Americans ignored by Trump: ‘Live in my shoes for one day. You wouldn’t be able to handle it’

The Americans ignored by Trump: ‘Live in my shoes for one day. You wouldn’t be able to handle it’

Nicholas Kristof writes: After a 1,000-mile road trip across a swath of America, I can’t get one person out of my mind: Trinity Goodman, a cheerful, chatty woman in Oklahoma City who had a bandage on her arm. The reason for the bandage? Goodman, 44, survives by selling blood plasma twice a week. She had $3.78 in her checking account, one cent in her savings account to keep it open, and six pennies in her piggy bank. “That’s my full…

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How Larry Ellison went from being the richest person in the world to the most vulnerable player in AI

How Larry Ellison went from being the richest person in the world to the most vulnerable player in AI

The New York Times reports: [Larry Ellison’s] big bet on A.I. was built on an astronomical amount of debt in every imaginable form — bonds, letters of credit, asset-backed securities — available in seemingly unlimited quantities, because the more you spent building A.I. infrastructure, the more you would earn, or so the logic went. Computer theorists called it the scaling hypothesis. It held that advancements in A.I. were directly tied to the generation of unprecedented amounts of computing power to…

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How Todd Blanche destroyed ‘the presumption of regularity’ and stripped the DOJ of its authority

How Todd Blanche destroyed ‘the presumption of regularity’ and stripped the DOJ of its authority

Ankush Khardori writes: “Todd Blanche is a STAR,” President Trump declared defiantly on social media on Thursday as he sought to clear resistance from two Senate Republicans to his nominee for attorney general. Instead of quickly acceding to the senators’ modest requests — for written guarantees confirming the elimination of a slush fund for Jan. 6 rioters and the limiting of a tax immunity deal for Mr. Trump — the president raised withdrawing Mr. Blanche’s nomination until next year, after…

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Iran targets strategic U.S. assets in Kuwait, Bahrain after Egypt drone attack

Iran targets strategic U.S. assets in Kuwait, Bahrain after Egypt drone attack

CNBC reports: Iran’s army said on Friday it had launched attacks on strategic U.S. assets and military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, following the latest wave of U.S. strikes against the Islamic Republic. Tehran said that it targeted aircraft shelters, satellite communication systems and equipment storage facilities used by the U.S. military at Kuwait’s Ahmad al-Jaber Air Base in a drone strike, per state media. Iran’s army also claimed Thursday to have attacked U.S. facilities at Sheikh Isa Air Base…

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AI could end up too cheap to control

AI could end up too cheap to control

Eric Levitz writes: The AI industry’s investors and critics don’t agree on much. But many in each camp share at least one basic conviction: America’s top labs are about to make a killing. Capital markets have signaled their faith in Anthropic and OpenAI’s impending hyper-profitability, valuing each at nearly $1 trillion. Many of Silicon Valley’s progressive adversaries also expect the labs to grow filthy rich but fear the implications, warning that AI-induced automation could transfer vast sums of money from…

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U.S. government map of Africa, made with AI, mislabels every country at global conference

U.S. government map of Africa, made with AI, mislabels every country at global conference

Reuters reports: A US government map of Africa mislabeled every country during a state department presentation at a ⁠global conference in Brazil ⁠this week, ​causing a stir among attenders who took screenshots and posted them online. Reuters viewed a video of the presentation given at the Aids 2026 conference in ⁠Rio de Janeiro, which shows the errant map displayed halfway during a presentation about the state department’s new health agreements. A Reuters analysis found the image of the map included…

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Two more federal appeals courts reject ICE mass detention policy

Two more federal appeals courts reject ICE mass detention policy

Politico reports: The appeals court dam is breaking against ICE’s unprecedented mass detention policy. Two federal appeals courts on Thursday shot down the Trump administration’s bid to subject millions of immigrants — most of whom have lived in the U.S. for years without criminal records — to mandatory detention without bond. In a pair of 2-1 decisions, the California-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the Illinois-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Trump administration had defied logic…

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A leaked memo ties cyberattacks on Minnesota water utilities to Iran

A leaked memo ties cyberattacks on Minnesota water utilities to Iran

Wired reports: Since the US launched its war against Iran in late February, the country’s hackers have struck back with retaliatory intrusions that have ranged from paralyzing medical supplies company Stryker to breaching the personal email of FBI director Kash Patel. Now, after an unprecedented wave of disruptive cyberattacks hit water utilities in Minnesota, a memo circulated within the water industry ties those attacks to Iran, too, in the widest and most disruptive strike yet inflicted by the country’s hackers…

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Ukraine starts providing the U.S. with military assistance

Ukraine starts providing the U.S. with military assistance

Thomas Nagorski writes: It is often hard to know who is winning the war in Ukraine. The front lines scarcely budge. The air war brings regular Russian missile strikes—the most recent ones have hit Kyiv—and Ukrainian attacks that have battered Russian oil refineries and reached as far as Siberia. Ukrainian officials say the tide is turning their way; the Kremlin insists it will win a war of attrition. In one significant way, Ukraine has already won. Some of the world’s…

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Ultra-rich buying $49 million London mansions. ‘Trump unease’ generates 10% rise in Americans investing in Britain

Ultra-rich buying $49 million London mansions. ‘Trump unease’ generates 10% rise in Americans investing in Britain

Fortune reports: Wealthy Americans are swapping U.S. ZIP codes for foreign postcodes, chasing stability as the U.S. grapples with a soaring cost-of-living, political polarization, and economic uncertainty. And now, they’re snapping up prime real estate in one of the world’s most expensive housing markets: London. The British capital has witnessed a staggering jump in the number of sales valued above £15 million ($20 million)—and it’s largely being driven by Americans with deep pockets, according to luxury real estate company Beauchamp…

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