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Category: Politics

Oil prices fall after Vance (supported by Donald Trump Jr) blames Iran war for election losses

Oil prices fall after Vance (supported by Donald Trump Jr) blames Iran war for election losses

Politico reports: Oil prices extended their sharp selloff on Wednesday as fears that President Donald Trump would launch fresh military strikes on Iran eased a day after Republicans were dealt a sharp defeat in the midterm elections. Trump has previewed for weeks that he may try to “finish the job” with another round of strikes on Iran. But the scale of the GOP losses has turned even Vice President JD Vance against the idea as voters delivered a sharp repudiation…

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Growing calls for Iran to pursue nuclear weapons

Growing calls for Iran to pursue nuclear weapons

The New York Times reports: From pulpits at Friday Prayers to street rallies, Iranian clerics and officials are increasingly urging the country’s leaders to reverse their longtime pledge not to pursue nuclear weapons. This demand, once seen as a fringe position held by hard-liners, is moving into mainstream public debate, and the shift could have dramatic consequences for Iran, whose government has for decades argued that its nuclear program was solely for peaceful purposes. “We must be equipped with nuclear…

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Democratic women surge past 100 House seats as Republican women lose ground

Democratic women surge past 100 House seats as Republican women lose ground

The Washington Post reports: Women will lead more states as governors and represent more congressional districts than at any time in American history come January. The blue wave putting Democrats back in control of Congress is also creating a House Democratic caucus that looks much more like the nation, in terms of gender, than ever before. Democratic women’s gains also widen a significant gap between the number of Democratic women and Republican women in power. For the first time, next…

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Tech industry in denial as U.S. overwhelmingly votes to restrict AI, data centers

Tech industry in denial as U.S. overwhelmingly votes to restrict AI, data centers

Ars Technica reports: Donald Trump’s big, rapid American AI buildout now faces a major slowdown as voters in yesterday’s elections overwhelmingly supported candidates and measures that favored increasing restrictions on AI and data centers nationwide. One resource from a polling firm, called Redbud Consulting, tracked data center initiatives on the ballot and reported that out of 44 measures across 10 states seeking to restrict data centers, 38 passed so far. Those measures included dozens of moratoriums and bans. Analysts suggested…

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AOC quietly lays the groundwork for 2028

AOC quietly lays the groundwork for 2028

Joe Perticone writes: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has been campaigning furiously in the final stretch of this midterm election cycle, visiting states across the union to boost a range of candidates who hope that the charismatic congresswoman’s considerable name I.D. will help them run up the numbers against their Republican opponents. It’s usually helpful for a party star to campaign with others, especially in this attention economy, and Ocasio-Cortez is being a good team player here. But campaigning hard now…

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Justice Kagan confronts a broken Supreme Court

Justice Kagan confronts a broken Supreme Court

Jesse Wegman writes: Like a lot of Americans, I’ve grown accustomed to Supreme Court justices speaking out much more frequently and informally than they once did. Yet still there was more than one moment in a public conversation Elena Kagan had at Catholic University last month when I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The justices like to say that their opinions speak for themselves. In the old days, they nurtured the mystique of their delicate yet elevated position…

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Pete Hegseth has made over half the military want to quit early

Pete Hegseth has made over half the military want to quit early

The New Republic reports: The Trump administration’s hyperpoliticized military environment apparently has thousands of active-duty military members looking toward the exit. A survey by Common Defense Civic Engagement, a grassroots veterans organization, found that 53 percent of active-duty service members want to leave because their service is becoming more politicized. Another 45 percent of polled respondents shared that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policy changes and the ensuing instability had made them consider leaving their stations sooner rather than later. The…

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A self-obsessed president has nothing to offer America

A self-obsessed president has nothing to offer America

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump on Monday delivered his closing argument ahead of the midterm elections. He wasn’t in one of the critical swing states Republicans need no win in order to keep their majorities, or even one of the red states at risk of slipping into Democrats’ control. He chose a location that embodied his own self of self-obsession, corruption, and federal mismanagement: the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He might even rename it after himself. “This is a massive…

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Trump vows to protect Musk, while floating pre-emptive staff pardons

Trump vows to protect Musk, while floating pre-emptive staff pardons

Axios reports: President Trump said Monday he’d move to protect Elon Musk if Democrats investigate the SpaceX and Tesla CEO after the midterm elections. He also suggested the possibility of pre-emptive pardons for staff and others around him if Democrats pursue investigations. Why it matters: Trump is positioning himself for a combative final two years in the White House, as polls increasingly point to the prospect of a significant blue wave. What they’re saying: In an interview for the “Pod…

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How the midterms could lead to the president getting elected by popular vote

How the midterms could lead to the president getting elected by popular vote

Stephen Wolf writes: Tuesday’s elections could have a major—yet largely overlooked—consequence for American democracy: Democrats could gain control of enough state governments to pass an agreement that would require the president to be elected by popular vote. Under the proposal, known as the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, member states agree to assign their electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the most votes nationwide. Crucially, participants would only switch over to this system once states that collectively account…

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Supreme Court quickly rejects Trump effort to target alleged noncitizen voters in California

Supreme Court quickly rejects Trump effort to target alleged noncitizen voters in California

NBC News reports: In a loss for President Donald Trump, the Supreme Court on Monday swiftly rejected the administration’s request that California separate out up to 20,000 mail-in ballots that officials allege could be submitted by noncitizens. In a brief order without explanation, the court turned away an emergency request the Trump administration filed just hours earlier in an unusual last-minute flurry of election litigation. Lower courts had also ruled against the Trump administration. The court acted so quickly that…

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Former FBI chief in Chicago sues DOJ, claiming he was pressured to investigate Trump’s foes

Former FBI chief in Chicago sues DOJ, claiming he was pressured to investigate Trump’s foes

The Guardian reports: The former head of the FBI in Chicago has accused the Trump administration of pressuring him to investigate the president’s political opponents and making him a “scapegoat” after a major federal case against anti-ICE protesters fell apart. Douglas DePodesta, who served as FBI special agent in charge from 2024 until July 2026, alleged in a federal lawsuit filed on Monday that the Department of Justice (DoJ) had engaged in “misconduct” and “malfeasance” in its pursuit of unjust…

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Big AI’s $140 million election machine became ‘politically toxic’

Big AI’s $140 million election machine became ‘politically toxic’

The Lever reports: One of artificial intelligence firms’ biggest super PACs has been forced into near irrelevance amid an outpouring of public backlash to the AI boom. Research shared exclusively with The Lever shows that the affiliated PACs of Leading The Future — a pro-AI industry group backed by Big Tech leaders — have bowed out of tight Congressional races this general election cycle as Leading The Future largely becomes regarded as a “politically toxic entity that candidates and donors…

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Why Pope Leo’s thinking on AI is the clearest among world leaders

Why Pope Leo’s thinking on AI is the clearest among world leaders

Gary Marcus writes: In my view, Pope Leo XIV is by far the clearest thinker on AI among prominent world leaders. It was a genuine thrill to meet him yesterday. It is understatement to say that I am a huge fan of his Encyclical on AI, the Magnifica Humanitas. It goes beyond words that I was able listen to him yesterday in person, from just a few feet away. He gave a brilliant, short speech, which you can find here….

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Risk faced by supertankers in Strait of Hormuz is making oil shipping more expensive than space flight

Risk faced by supertankers in Strait of Hormuz is making oil shipping more expensive than space flight

Bloomberg reports: As US President Donald Trump threatens renewed attacks against Iran, Tehran’s intermittent strikes on commercial vessels have left the two sides locked in a painful economic standoff. For Iran, the US blockade of its oil exports has snuffed out a key part of its military funding and severely hobbled the $300 billion economy, with only a tiny fraction of the prewar 2 million barrels per day are leaving the country via land routes. And for the US, the…

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Haley Stevens endorses ‘rubber stamp’ for ‘Trump’s dangerous agenda’

Haley Stevens endorses ‘rubber stamp’ for ‘Trump’s dangerous agenda’

Mike Rogers will be another rubber stamp for Donald Trump’s dangerous agenda. We can’t afford to give MAGA another Senate seat in November. #MISEN — Haley Stevens (@HaleyforMI) August 1, 2026 Q: Do you plan to reach out to Haley Stevens? Trump: Yes, to thank her. Q: Do you think she should be a member of the Republican Party? Trump: I’d love to have her. Johnson: I sent her a note. https://t.co/dF3X4HTgxc — Acyn (@Acyn) November 1, 2026 Congresswoman Stevens…

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