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Category: Politics

Crypto’s richest man, Changpeng Zhao, campaigns for a pardon

Crypto’s richest man, Changpeng Zhao, campaigns for a pardon

The New York Times reports: In 2023, as Changpeng Zhao, the founder of the giant cryptocurrency exchange Binance, prepared to plead guilty to U.S. money-laundering violations, he fashioned a crash course for himself on clemency politics, reading books about business tycoons who had received pardons, including Marc Rich and Michael Milken. Two years later, Mr. Zhao, a Chinese-born billionaire, is out of prison and mounting a pardon campaign of his own, backed by a sophisticated influence operation worthy of those…

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As electric bills rise, evidence mounts that data centers share blame

As electric bills rise, evidence mounts that data centers share blame

The Associated Press reports: Amid rising electric bills, states are under pressure to insulate regular household and business ratepayers from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers. It’s not clear that any state has a solution and the actual effect of data centers on electricity bills is difficult to pin down. Some critics question whether states have the spine to take a hard line against tech behemoths like Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta. But more than a dozen…

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Will the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s, divest from Israel?

Will the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s, divest from Israel?

+972 reports: In 1990, Norway established the Oil Fund, a long-term investment vehicle to manage the country’s growing oil and gas revenues. Formally known as the Government Pension Fund Global, its primary aims were to safeguard these revenues for future generations and to protect the Norwegian economy, increasingly reliant on oil, from global market volatility. Managed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) with operational independence under the central bank, the Oil Fund invests globally in equities, real estate, government bonds,…

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Germany halts export to Israel of arms that could be used in Gaza as global outcry grows

Germany halts export to Israel of arms that could be used in Gaza as global outcry grows

The Guardian reports: The German chancellor has indicated a significant shift in Berlin’s staunch support for Israel by stopping the export of military equipment that could be used in Gaza, as international partners condemned Israeli plans to take control of Gaza City. Friedrich Merz issued a sharply worded statement signalling the reversal after several weeks of openly criticising Israel’s “unclear” policy goals in Gaza and the unfolding humanitarian disaster there but stopping short of concrete consequences in policy. The German…

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New wave of Palestinian popular struggle takes root

New wave of Palestinian popular struggle takes root

+972 reports: In recent weeks, Palestinian grassroots mobilization has gathered remarkable momentum, particularly within the 1948 territories and the occupied West Bank. This surge reflects a growing effort to reconnect with a reinvigorated wave of global solidarity that has persisted, and even expanded, despite severe crackdowns on pro-Palestinian movements across the United States and much of Europe. All signs suggest that this momentum will continue to grow, potentially building toward a broader popular uprising, one capable of pushing back against…

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A legal standoff in Texas

A legal standoff in Texas

Anna Bower writes: A bitter political and legal battle is unfolding in Texas. On Sunday, more than 51 Democrats in the Texas House of Representatives fled the state in an effort to block Republican attempts to re-draw the state’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Hours later, Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to remove the absent lawmakers from office if they didn’t return for a scheduled floor debate by 3 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 4. In response, the Democrats invoked a…

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The Trump regime wants to go ‘all in’ on AI. There are big risks

The Trump regime wants to go ‘all in’ on AI. There are big risks

Science News reports: Under a newly released action plan for artificial intelligence, the technology will be integrated into U.S. government functions. The plan, announced July 23, is another step in the Trump administration’s push for an “AI-first strategy.” In July, for instance, the U.S. Department of Defense handed out $200 million contracts to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI. Elon Musk’s xAI announced “Grok for Government,” where federal agencies can purchase AI products through the General Services Administration. And all that…

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‘He’s the best thing that’s happened to us’: How neo-Nazis and other white extremists have been empowered by Trump

‘He’s the best thing that’s happened to us’: How neo-Nazis and other white extremists have been empowered by Trump

Reuters reports: Wearing cargo shorts, flip-flops and a baseball cap shading his eyes from the sun, Dalton Henry Stout blends in easily in rural America. Except for the insignia on his hat. It bears the skull and crossbones of the infamous “Death’s Head” SS units that oversaw Nazi Germany’s concentration camps – and the initials “AFN,” short for Aryan Freedom Network, the neo-Nazi group Stout leads with his partner. From a modest ranch house in Texas, the couple oversee a…

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Netanyahu aims to fully control Gaza despite warnings of mass death

Netanyahu aims to fully control Gaza despite warnings of mass death

The Guardian reports: Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intends to take military control of all of Gaza in defiance of warnings that such a move would lead to countless more Palestinian deaths, further mass displacement and endanger Israeli hostages still held in the territory. Before a security cabinet meeting to discuss Gaza’s future, the Israeli prime minister insisted that Israel does not want to ultimately govern the territory and would hand over that responsibility to friendly Arab nations….

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Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha talks to Jon Stewart about Gaza

Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha talks to Jon Stewart about Gaza

  As the world confronts images of the suffering in Gaza, Jon is joined by Pulitzer Prize winning Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha to hear the human story behind the photos. He shares his experience as a refugee, the voices of those still living through the devastation, and what he hopes for the future of his homeland.

DOJ ‘sending a message’ by moving to sanction a lawyer who took pro bono deportation case

DOJ ‘sending a message’ by moving to sanction a lawyer who took pro bono deportation case

Politico reports: The Trump administration is escalating its efforts to punish lawyers whom it sees as obstacles to the president’s agenda. The Justice Department is asking a federal judge to impose “substantial monetary sanctions” on a California lawyer who briefly halted but ultimately failed to block the deportation of an immigrant from Laos who pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the 1990s. Joshua Schroeder, an immigration and intellectual property attorney based in Los Angeles, appears to be the first target…

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The Supreme Court ruling that saved the press – and why Trump wants it gone

The Supreme Court ruling that saved the press – and why Trump wants it gone

Donald Trump wants to restrict journalists’ ability to publish or broadcast critical stories. Mesh cube, iStock/Getty Images Plus By Stephanie A. (Sam) Martin, Boise State University President Donald Trump is again attacking the American press – this time not with fiery rally speeches or by calling the media “the enemy of the people,” but through the courts. Since the heat of the November 2024 election, and continuing into July, Trump has filed defamation lawsuits against “60 Minutes” broadcaster CBS News…

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From Russian interference to revisionist innuendo: What the Gabbard files actually reveal

From Russian interference to revisionist innuendo: What the Gabbard files actually reveal

Renee DiResta writes: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has recently released a series of declassified documents she claims expose a “treasonous conspiracy” by former President Barack Obama and his top intelligence officials to sabotage Donald Trump. Gabbard’s performance—part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to retcon “Russiagate”—led to an announcement yesterday by Attorney General Pam Bondi assigning an as-yet-unknown federal prosecutor to convene a grand jury investigation into President Obama and others. Before diving into the barrage…

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Huge cuts to mRNA research trigger fears about future pandemics and national security

Huge cuts to mRNA research trigger fears about future pandemics and national security

The Hill reports: Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision this week to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in mRNA vaccine funding will leave the United States unprepared for the next pandemic and other public health emergencies, public health experts warned. “I’ve tried to be objective & non-alarmist in response to current HHS actions—but quite frankly this move is going to cost lives,” President Trump’s former surgeon general, Jerome Adams, said in a post on…

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The White House office for U.S. pandemic policy has been gutted

The White House office for U.S. pandemic policy has been gutted

Nikki Romanik writes: The White House office mandated by Congress to coordinate pandemic preparedness has been gutted, leaving urgent global health security gaps. Six months into the second Trump administration, a critical piece of America’s pandemic defense infrastructure sits dormant. The Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR), created in 2022 by congressional mandate through the PREVENT Pandemics Act, has been effectively abandoned—operating without a director since Trump’s second inauguration. This institutional void emerges just as the United States…

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The ADL used to fight for justice for all. Now its focus is on crushing pro-Palestinian activism

The ADL used to fight for justice for all. Now its focus is on crushing pro-Palestinian activism

  Noah Shachtman writes: On June 4, an executive at the Anti-Defamation League, which was founded with a mission to defend the Jewish people and “to secure justice and fair treatment to all,” walked into a room on the fourth floor of the Eisenhower building across the street from the White House. They were there to attend a meeting between Jewish groups and members of the Trump administration. Just a few years before, in the waning days of Trump’s first…

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