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Category: Politics

Raytheon admits to defrauding the Pentagon

Raytheon admits to defrauding the Pentagon

The Intercept reports: RTX Corporation, the weapons giant formerly (and better) known as Raytheon, agreed on Wednesday to pay almost $1 billion to resolve allegations that it defrauded the U.S. government and paid bribes to secure business with Qatar. “Raytheon engaged in criminal schemes to defraud the U.S. government,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kevin Driscoll of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division on Wednesday. “Such corrupt and fraudulent conduct, especially by a publicly traded U.S. defense contractor, erodes public trust…

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Pro-Iranian Telegram account leaks alleged U.S. intel on Israel’s attack plans on Iran

Pro-Iranian Telegram account leaks alleged U.S. intel on Israel’s attack plans on Iran

Axios reports: U.S. officials are extremely concerned about a potentially major security breach after two alleged U.S. intelligence documents about Israel’s preparations for an attack on Iran were published by a Telegram account affiliated with Iran. Why it matters: The alleged leak comes as Israel completes weeks of preparations for a retaliation against Iran, which attacked Israel with a barrage of ballistic missiles on Oct. 1. The leak could be an attempt to disrupt the Israeli operation. The Pentagon and the Office of the Director…

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There are no ‘safe zones’ in Syria for refugees forced to return home

There are no ‘safe zones’ in Syria for refugees forced to return home

Rena Netjes and Sophie Fullerton report: Israel’s escalating war in Lebanon has displaced more than 1.2 million people across the country in recent weeks. Those displaced are not only Lebanese civilians but also an estimated 250,000 Syrian refugees who have fled back into neighboring Syria since Israel’s bombing campaign began last month. Some 1.5 million Syrian refugees living precariously in Lebanon for more than a decade, after fleeing civil war in their own country, have faced the threat of detention…

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How tech billionaires became the GOP’s new donor class

How tech billionaires became the GOP’s new donor class

The New York Times reports: Last February, the billionaire financier Nelson Peltz summoned a group of about 20 wealthy, predominantly Republican donors and a handful of G.O.P. strategists to dinner at his $334 million waterfront estate in Palm Beach, Fla. There were plenty of people in the room who had publicly disavowed former President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol — Peltz among them — but it was pretty clear now that he was going to…

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Propelled by tech money, the menace of race science is back – and it’s just as nonsensical as ever

Propelled by tech money, the menace of race science is back – and it’s just as nonsensical as ever

Adam Rutherford writes: “Civilisation is going to pieces … if we don’t look out the white race will be – will be utterly submerged. It’s all scientific stuff; it’s been proved.” Sentiments like this will be familiar to those who lurk in the less wholesome corners of the internet, where racism and other bigotries flourish. As a geneticist who specialises in racism and eugenics, I lurk so that you don’t have to. However, this particular phantom threat comes from Tom…

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Trump ‘exhausted’ — turns down another interview

Trump ‘exhausted’ — turns down another interview

Politico reports: Recently, it’s become something of a pattern: Donald Trump is scheduled for an interview with a neutral media outlet, the date nears and then … things fall apart. It happened just this week to planned Trump sit-downs with NBC in Philadelphia and CNBC’s “Squawk Box” — and that’s on the heels of him backing out of a “60 Minutes” episode earlier this month. Why does this keep happening? Another outlet was recently given an explanation by Trump’s team…

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Harris says it is part of the American tradition for VPs not to criticize the president

Harris says it is part of the American tradition for VPs not to criticize the president

NBC News reports: Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday continued to steer clear of criticizing President Joe Biden, arguing that vice presidents not denigrating the commander-in-chief is an American tradition. After she delivered remarks at an afternoon campaign rally, Harris was asked by NBC News to identify one policy she would have done differently from Biden over the last three and a half years. “To be very candid with you, even including Mike Pence, vice presidents are not critical of…

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Yahya Sinwar’s killing will complicate Israel’s war on Gaza, not end it

Yahya Sinwar’s killing will complicate Israel’s war on Gaza, not end it

Middle East Eye reports: Israeli analysts say the assassination of Yahya Sinwar is unlikely to bring Israel’s war on Gaza to an end and will likely put the 101 hostages held in the enclave in even greater danger. There has been speculation that the Hamas leaders’ killing has left an opportunity for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under American pressure, to declare victory, strike a ceasefire deal and bring the hostages home. This might have been possible several months ago, but…

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Yahya Sinwar’s death can end this war

Yahya Sinwar’s death can end this war

Matthew Duss writes: The death of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who was believed to be the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, provides a new opening for the United States to meaningfully push for a cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza and for the de-escalation of violence across the Middle East. While Mr. Sinwar was far from alone in resisting an agreement — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has repeatedly and openly undermined cease-fire efforts for months —…

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The ‘pact of silence’ between Israelis and their media

The ‘pact of silence’ between Israelis and their media

Edo Konrad writes: Halfway into our conversation, Oren Persico makes a startling confession. The veteran Israeli journalist, whose job for the better half of the last two decades has been to monitor his country’s media, doesn’t watch mainstream Israeli news. “I just can’t do it,” Persico, who has worked as a staff writer for the Israeli media watchdog site The Seventh Eye since 2006, tells me. “It’s depressing and infuriating — it’s propaganda, it’s full of lies. Mostly, it’s a…

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Is Trump a fascist?

Is Trump a fascist?

Ruth Ben-Ghiat writes: There Trump stood, eyes closed, swaying to the music, as the minutes ticked by and his handlers tried to salvage the situation, likely wondering what on earth had happened to him. He had started his Oct. 14 town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, a town hall being an opportunity for people to ask him questions. Then people started to faint in the overheated room. “Personally, I enjoy this, you know,” Trump commented callously, as medical personnel wheeled people…

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Trump suggests Zelenskyy is to blame for the Russia-Ukraine war

Trump suggests Zelenskyy is to blame for the Russia-Ukraine war

Politico reports: Donald Trump blamed Russia’s war on Ukraine on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — an escalation of a pattern of sympathetic rhetoric toward the war’s aggressor, Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He should never have let that war start. The war’s a loser,” Trump said, referring to Zelenskyy, on a podcast with conservative commentator Patrick Bet-David published Thursday. The former president added that President Joe Biden had “instigated that war,” which he has repeatedly maintained “would never have happened” if…

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Both parties are getting men wrong

Both parties are getting men wrong

Richard V. Reeves writes: With the election just a few weeks away, the contest for the votes of men is heating up. Young women’s support is effectively locked up for the Democrats, but young men still seem up for grabs and the Trump-Vance ticket is making inroads, with some polls showing a double-digit advantage. Ironically, an election that was supposed to be about women because of the issue of abortion rights may in the end be decided by the votes…

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Israel kills its prime target – but Sinwar’s death seems down to chance, not precise planning

Israel kills its prime target – but Sinwar’s death seems down to chance, not precise planning

Julian Borger writes: In the end, after a year-long, multi-agency manhunt involving the latest technology, Israel’s best special forces and American assistance, Yahya Sinwar appears to have been killed by regular soldiers who had stumbled into him and had no idea whom they had killed. According to the initial reports, they were not there on an assassination operation and had no prior intelligence that they could be in the vicinity of the elusive Hamas leader, architect of the 7 October…

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Why you won’t hear the military arguing about climate change

Why you won’t hear the military arguing about climate change

Sherri Goodman and Leah Emanuel write: Today, the U.S. military is confronting a new enemy: climate change. Before Hurricane Helene devastated the Southeast last month, more than 5,900 National Guard members were called up to help prepare; after the storm, the Pentagon sent active-duty forces to assist with road clearing and logistical support. In June, when Hurricane Beryl spiraled through the Caribbean before making its U.S. landfall, Texas and Vermont National Guard units supported disaster response efforts, working with the…

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The little-known factor driving up housing costs: dirty money

The little-known factor driving up housing costs: dirty money

James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana write: The nation’s housing affordability crisis has become so acute that even our presidential candidates are paying attention to it. Former President Donald Trump blames immigrants for driving up prices and vows he will reduce demand by banning mortgages for “illegal immigrants” and deporting them. For her part, Vice President Kamala Harris promises to increase supply by building 3 million new homes. But the number of  housing units in the nation has grown faster…

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