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Category: Politics

Trump’s abuse of antisemitism to fight civil liberties is reason to not give him more powers, Jewish orgs tell Senate

Trump’s abuse of antisemitism to fight civil liberties is reason to not give him more powers, Jewish orgs tell Senate

New Jewish Narrative: A coalition of 10 Jewish organizations sent a letter today to Senate offices calling on them to oppose the Antisemitism Awareness Act (S.558). The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP) is scheduled to meet tomorrow to consider the bill. The letter cautions that “Voting in favor of this legislation in this current political climate would represent an endorsement of the Trump Administration’s escalating efforts to weaponize antisemitism as a pretext for undermining civil rights, deporting…

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Delusions of monarchy coupled with fundamental ineptitude define Trump’s first 100 days

Delusions of monarchy coupled with fundamental ineptitude define Trump’s first 100 days

David Smith writes: He has blinged it with gold cherubim, gold eagles, gold medallions, gold figurines and gilded rococo mirrors. He has crammed its walls with gold-framed paintings of great men from US history. In 100 days Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into a gilded cage. The portraits of Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan and other past presidents gaze down from a past that the 47th seems determined to erase. Trump is seeking to remake the US in his…

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Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage − following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control

Trump’s first 100 days show him dictating the terms of press coverage − following Hungarian strongman Viktor Orbán’s playbook for media control

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during a meeting in the Oval Office on May 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson/Getty Images By Adam G. Klein, Pace University Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stood before a captivated audience of conservative activists from the U.S. and laid out his vision for American politics. The Western media, he declared at a May 2022 special meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee in Budapest, are “the root…

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Agriculture isn’t nearing trade war tariffs crisis, ‘it is full blown crisis already’ farmers report

Agriculture isn’t nearing trade war tariffs crisis, ‘it is full blown crisis already’ farmers report

CNBC reports: The clock is ticking on trade deals that the U.S. will need to strike with many nations, most notably China, to avoid what Trump’s Treasury Secretary has described as an “unsustainable” tariffs war. But in the U.S. farming sector, the damage has already been done and the economic crisis already begun. U.S. agriculture exporters say the global backlash to President Trump’s tariffs is punishing them, especially a decline in Chinese buying of U.S. farm products, leading to cancelled…

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DOGE operatives gain accounts on classified networks holding nuclear secrets

DOGE operatives gain accounts on classified networks holding nuclear secrets

NPR reports: Two members of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have been given accounts on classified networks that hold highly guarded details about America’s nuclear weapons, two independent sources tell NPR. Luke Farritor, a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern, and Adam Ramada, a Miami-based venture capitalist, have had accounts on the computer systems for at least two weeks, according to the sources who also have access to the networks. Prior to their work at DOGE, neither Farritor nor Ramada appear…

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Musk’s Doge conflicts of interest worth $2.37bn, Senate report says

Musk’s Doge conflicts of interest worth $2.37bn, Senate report says

The Guardian reports: Elon Musk and his companies face at least $2.37bn in legal exposure from federal investigations, litigation and regulatory oversight, according to a new report from Senate Democrats. The report attempts to put a number to Musk’s many conflicts of interest through his work with his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), warning that he may seek to use his influence to avoid legal liability. The report, which was published on Monday by Democratic members of the Senate…

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Did ‘Vatican diplomacy’ change Trump’s mind on Ukraine? Three reasons for being skeptical

Did ‘Vatican diplomacy’ change Trump’s mind on Ukraine? Three reasons for being skeptical

Orysia Lutsevych writes: Hope can lift the spirit, but it’s not a good strategy. Trump’s second term has torpedoed the world order, in a manner that is especially dangerous for Ukraine and the rest of Europe. Three factors make the diplomatic efforts to defend Europe and achieve a good outcome in Ukraine precarious. First, the disturbing alignment in worldview between the White House and the Kremlin. Both Trump and Putin believe the world is a superpowers’ playground, where the powerful…

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Hegseth more focused on managing his image than running the Pentagon, says former top adviser

Hegseth more focused on managing his image than running the Pentagon, says former top adviser

Politico reports: A former top adviser to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described a head office gripped by paranoia and more focused on photo ops than leadership, the latest in a series of brutal accusations about the inner workings of the Pentagon. Colin Carroll, who was fired this month from his post as chief of staff to the deputy Defense secretary, told the Megyn Kelly podcast that Hegseth was obsessed with the spread of leaks and spent half his time investigating…

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‘I’m having a lot of fun,’ Trump says, as ‘I run the country and the world’ (into the ground)

‘I’m having a lot of fun,’ Trump says, as ‘I run the country and the world’ (into the ground)

Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer write: We asked the president if his second term felt different from his first. He said it did. “The first time, I had two things to do—run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” he said. “And the second time, I run the country and the world.” For weeks, we’d been hearing from both inside and outside the White House that the president was having more fun than he’d had in his…

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An American panopticon of databases

An American panopticon of databases

Ian Bogost and Charlie Warzel write: If you were tasked with building a panopticon, your design might look a lot like the information stores of the U.S. federal government—a collection of large, complex agencies, each making use of enormous volumes of data provided by or collected from citizens. The federal government is a veritable cosmos of information, made up of constellations of databases: The IRS gathers comprehensive financial and employment information from every taxpayer; the Department of Labor maintains the…

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Gaza on brink of catastrophe as aid runs out and prices soar, groups warn

Gaza on brink of catastrophe as aid runs out and prices soar, groups warn

The Guardian reports: Soaring prices of basic foodstuffs, diminishing stocks of medical supplies and sharp cuts to aid distribution threaten newly catastrophic conditions across Gaza, Palestinians and international aid officials in the battered territory are warning. Humanitarian organisations including the World Food Programme and Unwra, which supplies food and services to more than 2 million Palestinians across Gaza, have now distributed the last of their stocks of flour and other foodstuffs to the dozens of community kitchens in the territory…

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Rising up from a collective silence, universities organize to resist Trump

Rising up from a collective silence, universities organize to resist Trump

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration’s swift initial rollout of orders seeking more control over universities left schools thunderstruck. Fearing retribution from a president known to retaliate against his enemies, most leaders in higher education responded in February with silence. But after weeks of witnessing the administration freeze billions in federal funding, demand changes to policies and begin investigations, a broad coalition of university leaders publicly opposing those moves is taking root. The most visible evidence yet was…

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Federal work shaped a Black middle class. Now it’s destabilized by Trump’s job cuts

Federal work shaped a Black middle class. Now it’s destabilized by Trump’s job cuts

NPR reports: Shirley Hopkins built careers for herself and countless other Black workers through a federal government job. While working in the National Institutes of Health’s human resources office, she became known as the “recruitment lady.” It wasn’t spelled out in her job description, but she made it her personal mission to encourage more Black students in the Washington, D.C., area to apply for the federal agency’s internship and youth employment programs. “When I was young, I was not able…

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They criticized Musk on X. Then their reach collapsed

They criticized Musk on X. Then their reach collapsed

The New York Times reports: Anastasia Maria Loupis runs a popular account on X that used to receive hundreds of thousands of views each day for her far-right commentary, conspiracy theories and antisemitic statements. In late December, she criticized Elon Musk, the site’s owner, over his support for visa programs that many of President Trump’s supporters despise. Her reach plummeted on X and never recovered. When Mr. Musk purchased X in 2022, he promised to create a free speech haven…

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The Trump administration is trying to intimidate the judiciary

The Trump administration is trying to intimidate the judiciary

Adam Serwer writes: The arrest of Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan over allegedly obstructing the apprehension of an undocumented immigrant is an attempt to intimidate the judiciary. You can just ask Attorney General Pam Bondi. “What has happened to our judiciary is beyond me,” Bondi told Fox News, commenting on Dugan’s arrest. “They’re deranged. I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law, and they are not. We are sending a very strong message today: If…

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