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Category: Politics

Israel fortifies its presence in seized Syrian territory

Israel fortifies its presence in seized Syrian territory

Hoda Matar reports: In the small Syrian village of al-Hamidia, some 50 kilometers southwest of Damascus, most homes, like that of sheep herder Abu Mo’ath, are built from black basalt stone, a hallmark of the region’s volcanic terrain. The air carries a scent of lavender and sage across the secluded rural landscape. But over the past two months, life in the village has come to be defined by military occupation, with Israeli tanks and troops entrenching their presence on newly…

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JD Vance is merely the latest Christian nationalist to use Nazi camps to cover up his antisemitism

JD Vance is merely the latest Christian nationalist to use Nazi camps to cover up his antisemitism

Joel Swanson writes: On Thursday of this past week, Vice President JD Vance visited the site of the Dachau concentration camp in Germany, making him the latest in a string of American public officials to visit a former Nazi camp. The visit, timed to coincide with Vance’s trip to Germany for the Munich Security Conference, comes a year after Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person and newly-installed most powerful person in the United States, visited Auschwitz last January. It’s worth recalling the circumstances that…

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Harvard’s new antisemitism policy hurts Jews and helps Trump

Harvard’s new antisemitism policy hurts Jews and helps Trump

Jonathan Feingold writes: President Trump recently issued an executive order that purports to combat antisemitism by directing civil and criminal action against foreign students who participated in last year’s campus protests. A related fact sheet, under the heading “Deport Hamas Sympathizers and Revoke Student Visas,” issues the following warning: “To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: Come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you.” For more than a…

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Trump firings cause chaos at agency responsible for safeguarding America’s nuclear weapons

Trump firings cause chaos at agency responsible for safeguarding America’s nuclear weapons

NPR reports: Scenes of confusion and chaos unfolded over the last two days at the civilian agency that oversees the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile, as the Trump administration’s mass firings were carried out before being “paused” on Friday. This account of firings at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is based on interviews with several current and former NNSA employees who asked to remain anonymous, fearing retribution from the Trump administration. Officials were given hours to fire hundreds of employees,…

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Trump imports policy change results in chaos as millions of packages pile up at U.S. points of entry

Trump imports policy change results in chaos as millions of packages pile up at U.S. points of entry

Reuters reports: Days after U.S. President Donald Trump ended duty-free entry for cheap Chinese goods entering the U.S., his administration put the order on hold after more than a million packages piled up at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. It was the result of a rushed, confusing policy change that proved unworkable on short notice. Government officials are now scrambling to implement the order in a way that won’t cripple America’s hyper-efficient import system. Trump’s executive order took…

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Muskrats threaten to call Elon whenever federal workers resist their demands

Muskrats threaten to call Elon whenever federal workers resist their demands

Rolling Stone reports: Every regime’s enforcement mechanisms rely on threats and politicized intimidation. In the case of Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s ongoing power grab, it’s involved young staffers with Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) barging into different federal agencies, departments, and institutes, demanding that security officials and other senior staff give them access to whatever they want. When security officials, for instance, at several departments and agencies have responded that they need to check to ensure these…

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Musk’s uncontainable toxicity could spell disaster for Tesla

Musk’s uncontainable toxicity could spell disaster for Tesla

Wired reports: Elon Musk’s toxicity among many Europeans is such that even owners of Tesla news websites have ditched Muskmobiles for other EV brands. Jon Gibbs of Birmingham, England, runs what he calls the “world’s biggest Tesla inventory site.” Tesla-info, Gibbs says, stores the “largest database of new and used Tesla motors in the world.” He used to own one himself—but he now drives a BMW iX electric SUV. Likewise, Tim Kraaijvanger of the Netherlands, founder of Tesla360.nl, a Dutch…

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The opposition is growing: Trump is getting substantial pushback, both from the courts and elsewhere

The opposition is growing: Trump is getting substantial pushback, both from the courts and elsewhere

Quinta Jurecic writes: During his first term in office, Donald Trump loved to complain about judges on social media. Reliably, whenever his agenda was held up in court or his allies faced legal consequences, he would snipe online about “so-called judges” and a “broken and unfair” legal system. Now, in Trump’s second term, this genre of cranky presidential post has returned. A judge who blocked the administration’s mass freeze of federal-grant funding is “highly political” and an “activist,” according to…

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The Associated Press provides a model of effective press resistance

The Associated Press provides a model of effective press resistance

Noah Berlatsky writes: The White House is punishing the Associated Press for defying President Donald Trump’s petty and Orwellian censorship. Trump insists that journalistic outlets refer to the Gulf of Mexico solely as the “Gulf of America.” The AP has continued to refer to the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of Mexico. In retaliation, Trump barred the AP’s reporters from attending presidential press availabilities. But the AP refused to knuckle under. The organization’s stand provides a model for resistance…

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Elated Kremlin insiders say Trump has given Putin greenlight to expand the war in Ukraine

Elated Kremlin insiders say Trump has given Putin greenlight to expand the war in Ukraine

Julia Davis reports: U.S. President Donald J. Trump stunned the world by offering unprecedented concessions to Russia in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday—seemingly without getting anything in return. Before the formal peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin even started, Trump and members of his administration dismissed the idea that Ukraine could reclaim its territories that Russia currently occupies, slammed the door shut for Kyiv’s hope of NATO membership, and refused to acknowledge Ukraine as an equal member…

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How regime change happens in America

How regime change happens in America

Anne Applebaum writes: Despite its name, the Department of Government Efficiency is not, so far, primarily interested in efficiency. DOGE and its boss, Elon Musk, have instead focused their activity on the eradication of the federal civil service, along with its culture and values, and its replacement with something different. In other words: regime change. No one should be surprised or insulted by this phrase, because this is exactly what Trump and many who support him have long desired. During…

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Ambitious and ‘rigorously honest’ prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, quits rather than do Trump’s bidding

Ambitious and ‘rigorously honest’ prosecutor, Danielle Sassoon, quits rather than do Trump’s bidding

The New York Times reports: Danielle R. Sassoon shot like a laser through the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, with stints fighting violent crime and securities fraud as well as handling appeals before she was elevated, at age 38, to be its interim head. There, just weeks into her tenure running the country’s most prestigious federal prosecutor’s office, she encountered an obstacle that threatened to stall her rapid rise: the desire of President Trump’s administration to drop corruption charges against New…

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How DOGE could spark a financial crash

How DOGE could spark a financial crash

David Dayen writes: It hasn’t gotten much attention, but one of Elon Musk’s major DOGE initiatives is a massive fire sale of federal office space. Despite forcing federal employees back to the office by abolishing telework programs, Musk and company want to unload a large number of unused properties and recoup that money for the budget, a process that could expand if worker purges continue. That theoretical win-win, however, will soon come into contact with the realities of commercial real…

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Already exposed as an online gaming fraud, Musk’s whole genius persona is facing rapid unintentional disassembly

Already exposed as an online gaming fraud, Musk’s whole genius persona is facing rapid unintentional disassembly

Kareem Shaheen and Alec D’Angelo write: Musk’s ability to reach the worldwide top 20 leaderboards in the run-up to Trump’s inauguration raised eyebrows, since he essentially would have needed to play the game [Path of Exile] nonstop for two weeks to achieve the rank. Then he began streaming the game, and it was abundantly clear that he wasn’t familiar with its interface or his own equipment — or even with the game’s basic mechanics. The kicker was that, at one…

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‘Tesla Takeover’: Protests planned at Tesla stores globally this weekend

‘Tesla Takeover’: Protests planned at Tesla stores globally this weekend

Electrek reports: Tesla is being targeted by protests organized at its stores around the globe. The demonstrations planned for this Saturday appear to be a grassroots movement without a clear goal or leadership. The protestors are calling it the “Tesla Takeover”. The movement appears to have started on Bluesky, a social media platform that spun off of Twitter before Elon Musk bought it and turned it into X. Several bigger accounts on Bluesky, including Anonymous, the infamous hacker group, have…

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‘Putin’s brain,’ Alexander Dugin, celebrates Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment as DNI

‘Putin’s brain,’ Alexander Dugin, celebrates Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment as DNI

Alexander Dugin’s influence might be overstated, but hardly anyone close to the Kremlin will be disappointed to see someone who is so frequently describe as a “Russian asset” installed as Director of National Intelligence: Tulsi Gabbard! You are simply awesome. pic.twitter.com/6eSbFQDsM8 — Alexander Dugin (@AGDugin) February 12, 2025 Dugin reposts: 🇺🇸 JOHN BOLTON: KREMLIN DRINKING VODKA OVER TULSI’S DNI NOMINATION “Putin couldn’t be happier—they’re drinking vodka straight from the bottle in the Kremlin tonight. A great day for Moscow. Tulsi…

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