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Category: Politics

Netanyahu says ‘victory’ over Hamas is in sight. The data tells a different story

Netanyahu says ‘victory’ over Hamas is in sight. The data tells a different story

CNN reports: Nearly half of Hamas’ military battalions in northern and central Gaza have rebuilt some of their fighting capabilities despite more than nine months of Israel’s brutal offensive, according to analyses by the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project, the Institute for the Study of War and CNN. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who faces growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, has repeatedly said that Israeli forces are nearing their stated…

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In 2014, RFK Jr. dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park and tried to fake its cause of death

In 2014, RFK Jr. dumped a dead bear cub in Central Park and tried to fake its cause of death

The New York Times reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the independent presidential candidate, confessed on Sunday that he had left a dead bear cub in Central Park in Manhattan in 2014 because he thought it would be “amusing.” Mr. Kennedy posted a video detailing the bizarre story on social media ahead of an article in The New Yorker that mentions the incident. “Looking forward to seeing how you spin this one,” he said, tagging the magazine. In the video, Mr….

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The antidemocratic politics of the broligarchs

The antidemocratic politics of the broligarchs

Brooke Harrington writes: Eight years ago, the PayPal and Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel was an outlier in liberal Silicon Valley for publicly supporting Donald Trump. But now a number of prominent male tech plutocrats who previously opposed the former president have done an about-face: These broligarchs are publicly endorsing and donating to the Republican candidate—and revealing a lot about their own priorities. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who according to his biographer once waited in line for six hours…

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Elon Musk’s X is spreading deepfakes of Kamala Harris

Elon Musk’s X is spreading deepfakes of Kamala Harris

Mother Jones reports: For the second time in less than two weeks, a doctored video of Vice President Kamala Harris has spread widely on Elon Musk’s social media platform X. A video known as a “deepfake” that was posted on X on Saturday appears to show Harris repeating herself over and over again, using a crude audio rendering made to seem like Harris is struggling to finish a complete sentence. The altered video uses footage from an appearance by Harris…

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The far right has moved online, where its voice is more dangerous than ever

The far right has moved online, where its voice is more dangerous than ever

The Observer reports: The resurgence of far-right violence in the UK is in part due to Elon Musk’s decision to allow figures such as Tommy Robinson back on to the social media platform X, researchers say. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, and those of his ilk are not leaders in the traditional sense and the far right has no central organisation capable of directing the disorder and violence that has been seen, experts say. Jacob Davey, director of…

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How a Washington tax break for data centers snowballed into one of the state’s biggest corporate giveaways

How a Washington tax break for data centers snowballed into one of the state’s biggest corporate giveaways

By Lulu Ramadan and Sydney Brownstone, The Seattle Times, photography by Karen Ducey, The Seattle Times This story was originally published by ProPublica In 2010, as the country still reeled from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, tech companies, real estate developers and rural lobbyists went to the state Capitol in Olympia, Washington, to press for a tax break for data centers. Turning it down, supporters argued, would mean rejecting high-paying, long-term and environmentally friendly jobs in distressed…

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Trump claims he’s pro-worker. Project 2025 will gut labor rights

Trump claims he’s pro-worker. Project 2025 will gut labor rights

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump proclaimed he was for “all the forgotten men and women”, in his acceptance speech at the Republican convention. His vice-presidential pick JD Vance consistently portrays himself as a pro-worker populist. But an analysis of the labor chapter of Project 2025 – an ambitious rightwing plan to guide the next Republican presidency – found it has little to offer them. Project 2025’s labor section proposes hardly anything to improve workers’ wages and working conditions. It is,…

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What’s rattling Trump: The size of Harris’s crowds

What’s rattling Trump: The size of Harris’s crowds

Shawn McCreesh writes: When former President Donald J. Trump walked onto the stage at his rally in Atlanta on Saturday, fog machines shot white plumes of smoke into the air, heralding his arrival. If you looked closely, you could almost imagine steam pouring out of his ears, too. All week long, something had been giving him the vapors. “Crazy Kamala,” he fumed a minute into his speech. “She was here a week ago — lots of empty seats — but…

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What Donald Trump doesn’t understand about race in America

What Donald Trump doesn’t understand about race in America

Teresa Wiltz writes: For most of its history, America decreed that anyone with any African ancestry was Black — and rumors of purported Blackness could derail a career, a marriage, a life. Now, the irony is that some feel comfortable accusing those same people of making up their Blackness altogether — or not being “fully Black” if they come from multiple racial backgrounds. But the problem with trying to decide who qualifies as Black and who doesn’t is that there…

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How JD Vance thinks about power

How JD Vance thinks about power

The New York Times reports: In September 2021, JD Vance offered two predictions about former President Donald J. Trump and one piece of advice. Mr. Trump would run again in 2024, Mr. Vance said. He would win. And when he did, Mr. Vance counseled, he needed the right people around him this time. “Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people,” Mr. Vance said on a podcast. He continued. “Then when…

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Biden told Netanyahu to ‘stop bullshitting.’ PM’s own security chiefs say he’s ‘given up on hostages’

Biden told Netanyahu to ‘stop bullshitting.’ PM’s own security chiefs say he’s ‘given up on hostages’

The Times of Israel reports: US President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “stop bullshitting me” during their meeting in Washington last week, according to Channel 12 news. The network says the outburst came after Netanyahu told Biden that Israel was moving forward with negotiations on a hostage-for-ceasefire deal. The Times of Israel also reports: According to tonight’s report by Channel 12 news, which first reported on the meeting last night, Halevi said during the heated discussion: “The…

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Navalny couldn’t be freed until Gershkovich was kidnapped. Gershkovich couldn’t be freed until Navalny was dead

Navalny couldn’t be freed until Gershkovich was kidnapped. Gershkovich couldn’t be freed until Navalny was dead

Masha Gessen writes: A few days ago, Russian political prisoners started vanishing from their prison colonies: Their lawyers would come to see them only to be told their clients were no longer there. The disappearance of an inmate is often bad news — it can mean a move to a more remote colony, illness or death. But as the number of “missing” prisoners grew, in the Russian dissident community a mounting sense of anticipation replaced the concern. “A trade,” a…

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A polarisation engine’: How social media has created a ‘perfect storm’ for UK’s far-right riots

A polarisation engine’: How social media has created a ‘perfect storm’ for UK’s far-right riots

Carole Cadwalladr writes: The 1996 Dunblane massacre and the outcry that followed are held up in the US as a textbook example of how an act of terror mobilised a country to demand effective gun regulation. The atrocity, in which 16 children and their teacher were killed, provoked a wave of national revulsion that, within weeks, led to 750,000 people signing a petition demanding a change to the law. Within a year and a half, new legislation had outlawed the…

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$10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt

$10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt

The Washington Post reports: Five days before Donald Trump became president in January 2017, a manager at a bank branch in Cairo received an unusual letter from an organization linked to the Egyptian intelligence service. It asked the bank to “kindly withdraw” nearly $10 million from the organization’s account — all in cash. Inside the state-run National Bank of Egypt, employees were soon busy placing bundles of $100 bills into two large bags, according to records from the bank. Four…

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How an Elon Musk PAC is using voter data to help Trump beat Harris in 2024 election

How an Elon Musk PAC is using voter data to help Trump beat Harris in 2024 election

CNBC reports: If a voter in Michigan performs a search on Google, a somewhat shocking ad might pop up. The ad shows a young man lying in bed late at night when someone else texts him, “Hey you need to vote,” and then sends the man a video of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The man can hear the gunshots and people screaming in the background. As Trump is rushed off stage with blood pouring down his…

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New ads calling Trump ‘afraid to debate’ to follow him on campaign trail

New ads calling Trump ‘afraid to debate’ to follow him on campaign trail

Reuters reports: The Democratic National Committee’s newest advertising campaign, launched on Friday, taunt Republican rival Donald Trump for not committing to a debate with Kamala Harris and is set to follow him on the campaign trail. The DNC has purchased large ads that dominate the digital homepages of major local newspapers in states where Trump plans to campaign in the coming weeks. The ads say “the convicted felon is afraid to debate” and question whether that is due to his…

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