Browsed by
Category: Politics

The West has to believe that democracy will prevail

The West has to believe that democracy will prevail

Anne Applebaum writes: When I began working on the history of the Soviet Union, in the 1990s, survivors and historians alike were free to speak as they wished. Many of them felt as if a new Russia could be constructed on top of the fundamental, historical truths that were emerging. That possibility faded. I can even tell you the exact moment when it finally came to an end: the morning of February 20, 2014, when Russian troops illegally marched across…

Read More Read More

Pro-Trump dark money network tied to Elon Musk behind fake pro-Harris campaign scheme

Pro-Trump dark money network tied to Elon Musk behind fake pro-Harris campaign scheme

OpenSecrets reports: An initiative called Progress 2028 that purports to be Kamala Harris’ liberal counter to the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 is actually run by a dark money network supporting former President Donald Trump. Building America’s Future, the dark money group at the helm of the network, has steered money to a constellation of groups and initiatives boosting Trump’s agenda and spreading messaging aimed at chipping away voters from Harris. The dark money group reportedly received over $100 million…

Read More Read More

Who’s mailing the Catholic Tribune? It’s not the church, it’s partisan media

Who’s mailing the Catholic Tribune? It’s not the church, it’s partisan media

By Jennifer Smith Richards and Megan O’Matz This story was originally published by ProPublica One by one, Catholic dioceses in key presidential swing states are putting out unusual statements: Newspapers whose titles include the word Catholic that are showing up in people’s mailboxes aren’t what they seem and aren’t connected to the church. With a classic typeface and traditional newspaper design, the mass-mailed Catholic Tribune newspapers carry signposts of legitimacy. But most of the articles in the papers are inflammatory…

Read More Read More

Trump has a plan to win without the votes—and the fight is on to stop him

Trump has a plan to win without the votes—and the fight is on to stop him

Mother Jones reports: Elections are supposed to be decided at the ballot box. But this year, Donald Trump’s campaign appears to be trying to win on a different field of battle. With dozens of lawsuits already filed across the country, the Republicans are using state and federal courts as a key pillar of their strategy to retake the White House. The lawsuits have been flooding in for months from the Republican National Committee—now part of the family firm under the…

Read More Read More

Trump ground game in key states flagged as potentially fake

Trump ground game in key states flagged as potentially fake

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump’s campaign may be failing to reach thousands of voters they hope to turn out in Arizona and Nevada, with roughly a quarter of door-knocks done by America Pac flagged by its canvassing app as potentially fraudulent, according to leaked data and people familiar with the matter. The potentially fake door-knocks – when canvassers falsely claim they visited a home – could present a serious setback to Trump as he and Kamala Harris remain even in…

Read More Read More

America’s gullibility crisis

America’s gullibility crisis

Axios reports: In the heat of this historic election, educated elites who should know better — billionaires, elected officials, journalists — keep falling for fakes, conspiracy theories and outright lies. Why it matters: Human gullibility is not a new phenomenon. But social media and polarized politics are exposing it at industrial scale, fueled by a poisonous cocktail of bad actors, media illiteracy and plummeting trust in traditional news. Driving the news: Each day on the digital campaign trail has brought a torrent of false or…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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 —…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More