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Category: Politics

The Democratic establishment needs to catch up with voters on Israel

The Democratic establishment needs to catch up with voters on Israel

Peter Beinart writes: To grasp the significance of Zohran Mamdani’s shocking victory in last month’s Democratic primary for mayor of New York, it’s worth recalling another upset, which took place 11 years ago and some 300 miles to the south, in a Republican congressional primary near Richmond, Va. In 2014 Dave Brat, a little-known economics professor at Randolph-Macon College, challenged Eric Cantor, who was then the House majority leader. Mr. Brat was outspent by a margin of more than 10…

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Trump’s effort to deport pro-Palestinian activists goes to trial in Boston

Trump’s effort to deport pro-Palestinian activists goes to trial in Boston

Politico reports: At least five times in recent weeks, federal judges have forcefully rejected President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport pro-Palestinian student activists, issuing one stinging ruling after another to declare the efforts unconstitutional — with one judge comparing the deportation drive to the Red Scare. The five foreign-born academics, Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung, Rumeysa Ozturk and Badar Khan Suri, were all targeted by the Trump administration after Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared their presence in the…

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‘Blood for food’: The American soldier-spies sidelining UN aid work in Gaza

‘Blood for food’: The American soldier-spies sidelining UN aid work in Gaza

Anas Baba reports: What does it take to get food today in Gaza? It involves a perilous journey that I took myself. I faced Israeli military fire, private U.S. contractors pointing laser beams at my forehead, crowds with knives fighting for rations, and masked thieves — to get food from a group supported by the U.S. and Israel called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF. Every day since the group began offering food on May 26, thousands of hungry Palestinians…

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From Bush’s war on terror to Trump’s war on immigrants

From Bush’s war on terror to Trump’s war on immigrants

Axios reports: Mass surveillance. Pre-emptive military strikes in the Middle East. Shipping people to domestic and foreign prisons. Citing national security to hide information from the courts. Labeling people as “terrorists” as a political and legal strategy. Why it matters: Donald Trump became president in part by running against the legacy of George W. Bush, the last Republican in the White House before him. But now Trump is supercharging many of the post-9/11 legal, tactical and political strategies Bush used. Driving the news: Trump’s push to…

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Why evangelicals turned their back on PEPFAR

Why evangelicals turned their back on PEPFAR

Peter Wehner writes: In 2006, Ambassador Mark Dybul, then the United States global AIDS coordinator, visited an orphanage run by the Daughters of Charity in Ethiopia. It was a sanctuary for more than 400 HIV-positive babies and young children found in garbage heaps, abandoned on the roadside, or left at the orphanage door. As Dybul and Michael Gerson, then a senior policy adviser to President George W. Bush, walked through the massive campus, they came to the dining hall, where…

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American academics being offered ‘scientific asylum’ in France

American academics being offered ‘scientific asylum’ in France

The Guardian reports: It was on a US-bound flight in March, as Brian Sandberg stressed about whether he would be stopped at security, that the American historian knew the time had come for him to leave his home country. For months, he had watched Donald Trump’s administration unleash a multipronged attack on academia – slashing funding, targeting international students and deeming certain fields and even keywords off limits. As his plane approached the US, it felt as though the battle…

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Trump’s war against immigrants threatens the freedom of all Americans

Trump’s war against immigrants threatens the freedom of all Americans

Chandran Kukathas writes: The tactics of the Trump administration’s immigration agenda have shifted from time to time, but the broader objective has remained consistent: to deport as many people as possible and, more broadly, to transform the restrictions and reach of America’s immigration system. President Trump and members of his administration believe they have a democratic mandate to do this. Their ultimate fear is that outsiders pose a danger to American values — the threat of not just taking our…

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ICEBlock developer on why Trump admin is targeting his app to report ICE sightings

ICEBlock developer on why Trump admin is targeting his app to report ICE sightings

  “ICEBlock”, an app that allows users to report sightings of ICE activity, has hit the top of the App Store charts for downloads. The app’s developer, Joshua Aaron, defends his reasons for making the mobile application and explains why the Trump administration isn’t happy with its rising popularity. Wired reports: US attorney general Pam Bondi was on Fox News Monday talking about ICEBlock, when she spoke directly about Aaron, the app’s sole developer. “We are looking at him,” she…

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Joe Rogan feels betrayed by Trump on immigration

Joe Rogan feels betrayed by Trump on immigration

Gizmodo reports: Joe Rogan, one of the most influential voices in American media, is turning on Donald Trump. And the reason cuts deep: immigration raids. Rogan, who endorsed Trump just hours before the 2024 presidential election, now says he was misled by the man he helped boost into office. The podcaster and UFC commentator, known for giving a platform to anti-cancel culture figures and free speech advocates, is now accusing Trump of betraying the very values he campaigned on. “We…

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Trump claims sweeping power to unilaterally nullify laws, letters reveal

Trump claims sweeping power to unilaterally nullify laws, letters reveal

The New York Times reports: Attorney General Pam Bondi told tech companies that they could lawfully violate a statute barring American companies from supporting TikTok based on a sweeping claim that President Trump has the constitutional power to set aside laws, newly disclosed documents show. In letters to companies like Apple and Google, Ms. Bondi wrote that Mr. Trump had decided that shutting down TikTok would interfere with his “constitutional duties,” so the law banning the social media app must…

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Trump is giving Putin every incentive to keep killing Ukrainians

Trump is giving Putin every incentive to keep killing Ukrainians

Anne Applebaum writes: The American president wrote, “Vladimir, STOP!” on his Truth Social account in April, but the Russian president did not halt his offensive in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian president called for an unconditional cease-fire in May, but the Russians did not agree to stop attacking Ukrainian civilians from the air. Donald Trump repeatedly promised, during his campaign, that he would end the war “in one day,” but the war is not over. He spoke to Vladimir Putin yesterday,…

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The spy, private equity baron and ghost of a Trump donor: The revolving door behind a Gaza mercenary firm

The spy, private equity baron and ghost of a Trump donor: The revolving door behind a Gaza mercenary firm

Middle East Eye reports: The US mercenary firm overseeing a controversial Gaza aid programme is the creation of a bespectacled Chicago private equity baron and a CIA spy with old ties to a Donald Trump ally who participated in one of the Middle East’s nastiest diplomatic rifts. The story of Safe Reach Solutions (SRS) exemplifies the shadowy revolving door between old spies and Middle Eastern states, one that is increasingly being monetized by American investors flush with cash. The spies…

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‘Put his name on everything’: Social Security Administration disseminates Trump propaganda

‘Put his name on everything’: Social Security Administration disseminates Trump propaganda

Unbelievable. I was a deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Appointed by President Biden. The agency has never issued such a blatant political statement. The fact that Trump and his minion running SSA has done this is unconscionable. pic.twitter.com/6XqYcjRGVg — Jeff Nesbit (@jeffnesbit) July 3, 2025 Rolling Stone reports: Throughout President Donald Trump’s second term, he’s used every means possible to promote himself and prop up his agenda in unprecedented ways — even as he pulls apart the government…

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Judge Luttig: Chief Justice Roberts’ ‘unforgivable reticence,’ failing to speak out directly against Trump

Judge Luttig: Chief Justice Roberts’ ‘unforgivable reticence,’ failing to speak out directly against Trump

  The Court of History’s Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz are joined by Conservative former judge, John Michael Luttig, who declares his independence from Trump. Judge J Michael Luttig writes: On July 4, 1776, our fellow Americans declared their independence from the British empire and its ruling monarchy. Thus began the American Revolutionary War against Great Britain to secure America’s independence from the tyrannical rule of King George III. On that first Independence Day almost two hundred and fifty years…

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Does Pakistan’s Lawyers’ Movement hold lessons for the United States?

Does Pakistan’s Lawyers’ Movement hold lessons for the United States?

  Yes, Pakistan’s Lawyers’ Movement holds valuable lessons for the United States, particularly regarding the importance of judicial independence, the power of collective action, and the role of civil society in challenging political power. The movement demonstrates how a professional group can mobilize and exert significant influence on political and legal systems. Here’s a more detailed look at the lessons: • Importance of Judicial Independence: The Lawyers’ Movement in Pakistan highlighted the critical role of an independent judiciary in a…

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Profiles in congressional cowardice

Profiles in congressional cowardice

The New York Times reports: In the days leading up to House passage of Republicans’ sweeping policy bill carrying President Trump’s agenda, members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus were unsparing in their criticism of the measure. “That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s not what we agreed to,” lawmakers in the caucus said in a statement after the Senate passed its version earlier this week with several major changes. “Republicans,” they added, “must do better.” Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas…

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