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Category: Politics

What to know about extreme flooding — and ways to stay safe

What to know about extreme flooding — and ways to stay safe

Science News reports: July has washed across the United States with unusually destructive, deadly torrents of rain. In the first half of the month alone, historically heavy downpours sent rivers in Central Texas spilling far beyond their banks, causing at least 130 deaths. Rains prompted flash flooding across wildfire-scarred landscapes in New Mexico and flooded subway stations in New York City. Roadways in New Jersey turned into rivers, sweeping two people to their deaths as the floodwaters carried away their…

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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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Less than a quarter of Americans say Israeli military actions in Gaza are fully justified, poll finds

Less than a quarter of Americans say Israeli military actions in Gaza are fully justified, poll finds

CNN reports: Americans are increasingly skeptical of Israeli actions in Gaza, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS that also finds rising sentiment that the US should pull back on military aid to Israel. Only 23% of Americans say Israel’s actions have been fully justified, a 27-point drop from a October 2023 poll taken shortly after Hamas’ October 7 attacks. Another 27% now say those actions have been partially justified and 22% say that they have not been…

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Marjorie Taylor Greene votes alongside Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to cut funding for Israel

Marjorie Taylor Greene votes alongside Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to cut funding for Israel

Middle East Eye reports: Hardline America Firster and staunch Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene voted alongside progressive Democrat Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar to strip Israel of $500m in US funding, hours after it bombed the Holy Family Catholic Church in Gaza. The House of Representatives, however, rejected in a 422-6 vote on Thursday, to cut funding for the Israeli Cooperative Program – an agreement through which the US provides Israel with $500m to boost its missile programmes. It…

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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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Stephen Colbert’s cancellation by CBS is a dark warning for the culture at large

Stephen Colbert’s cancellation by CBS is a dark warning for the culture at large

Inae Oh writes: On Thursday, Stephen Colbert, the beloved, sharp-tongued comedian and host of the Late Show, announced that CBS was canceling the legendary franchise. “This is all just going away,” Colbert told the audience, as they responded with a wave of gasps and jeers. Online, the news was met with a similar blend of shock and anger. The move to cancel one of television’s last remaining crown jewels of broadcast programming came just days after Colbert publicly criticized CBS’s…

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‘We have certain things in common, Jeffrey’

‘We have certain things in common, Jeffrey’

The Wall Street Journal reports: It was Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday, and Ghislaine Maxwell was preparing a special gift to mark the occasion. She turned to Epstein’s family and friends. One of them was Donald Trump. Maxwell collected letters from Trump and dozens of Epstein’s other associates for a 2003 birthday album, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Pages from the leather-bound album—assembled before Epstein was first arrested in 2006—are among the documents examined by Justice Department…

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Steve Bannon warns Trump’s mishandling of Epstein files might cost GOP 40 House seats in midterms

Steve Bannon warns Trump’s mishandling of Epstein files might cost GOP 40 House seats in midterms

Mediaite reports: Former Trump White House advisor turned MAGA influencer, Steve Bannon, warned on Friday that if the Trump administration doesn’t satisfy the MAGA base on the so-called “Epstein Files,” the GOP could lose up to “40 seats” in the midterm elections. “It’s not about just a pedophile ring and all that. It’s about who governs us, right? And that’s why it’s not gonna go away,” Bannon told a live audience, referring to the recent DOJ and FBI memo concluding…

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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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Matt Gaetz: How many Americans do Israeli settlers have to kill before we care?

Matt Gaetz: How many Americans do Israeli settlers have to kill before we care?

The Times of Israel reports: The far-right One America News Network airs a segment on last week’s killing of Palestinian-American Saif Musallet by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. The network’s decision to focus on the phenomenon that was once largely ignored in more conservative circles highlights the shift among a camp of MAGA Republicans that has gradually become more critical of Israel. The anchor for the segment is former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz, who was US President Donald Trump’s…

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Israel and the U.S. are no longer pretending they support a two-state solution

Israel and the U.S. are no longer pretending they support a two-state solution

  For decades, the U.S. has officially held the position that it has supported a “two-state solution” that would create a Palestinian state alongside Israel. But after the Oslo Accords, little to no progress was made towards that goal, and the U.S. constantly condoned Israel’s actions that made that goal a more distant possibility – supporting it with military and financial aid. Today, under Trump, the U.S. is supporting Israel during its plans to ethnically cleanse Gaza and annex the…

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Trump’s mishandling of the Epstein files provokes a MAGA crisis in faith

Trump’s mishandling of the Epstein files provokes a MAGA crisis in faith

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump disowned his supporters who have called for the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, chiding them Wednesday as “weaklings” who “bought into this bulls—.” The lengthy post on Truth Social represents the clearest split from the faction of his MAGA base that has questioned the Justice Department’s handling of the case. My “PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls—’ hook, line, and sinker,” he said in the post, adding, “Let these weaklings continue…

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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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