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Category: Politics

Harris’ Zoom-fueled campaign triggers a dormant Democratic base

Harris’ Zoom-fueled campaign triggers a dormant Democratic base

Politico reports: When a group of Black women political organizers assembled for a regular Zoom call on Sunday, they suddenly had a new mission. A mere hours earlier, President Joe Biden had ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. Interest in the call had skyrocketed, and some 40,000 attendees logged on. The Win With Black Women collective, nervous that Harris would be facing competition, ferociously pushed back on the idea of an open primary…

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Why did progressive Democrats support Joe Biden?

Why did progressive Democrats support Joe Biden?

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes: After weeks of debate about the viability of President Joe Biden’s run for reëlection, the mounting pressure for him to leave the race finally overwhelmed his own efforts to stay. In the immediate aftermath of Biden’s historic decision to end his campaign, the enthusiasm that coalesced around Vice-President Kamala Harris as his replacement seemed to be as much a reflection of relief about Biden as it was excitement about Harris herself. Since Biden’s revealing performance in the…

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How the U.S. became the world’s biggest fossil fuel producing state

How the U.S. became the world’s biggest fossil fuel producing state

The Guardian reports: To witness how the United States has become the world’s unchallenged oil and gas behemoth is to contemplate the scene from John Allaire’s home, situated on a small spit of coastal land on the fraying, pancake-flat western flank of Louisiana. Allaire’s looming neighbor, barely a mile east across a ship channel that has been pushed into the Gulf of Mexico, is a hulking liquified natural gas (or LNG) plant, served by leviathan ships shuttling its chilled cargo…

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The 2024 map just got a major shakeup

The 2024 map just got a major shakeup

Politico reports: Choosing a running mate isn’t the only big decision awaiting Vice President Kamala Harris in the 100-day sprint to Election Day. Her campaign must also chart a course to 270 electoral votes across a map that bears little resemblance to 2020. The map she inherits from President Joe Biden is grim. Before the president withdrew his candidacy Sunday, he was trailing in the polls in every battleground state, including the five he flipped to win the White House:…

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The GOP’s secret weapon for 2024? Bogus lawsuits

The GOP’s secret weapon for 2024? Bogus lawsuits

Mother Jones reports: On March 19, Staci Lindberg, the elected clerk of Nevada’s Lyon County, was hit with some unsettling news: She was being sued for the first time in her life. The plaintiff? Her own political party. The Republican National Committee had filed a lawsuit against Lindberg and five other Nevada election officials, alleging they had failed to follow a 1993 federal law requiring they maintain accurate voter registration rolls. As evidence, the RNC pointed to three counties it…

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‘It must end’: Australia, New Zealand, Canada call for immediate Gaza ceasefire

‘It must end’: Australia, New Zealand, Canada call for immediate Gaza ceasefire

The Times of Israel reports: Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Friday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and asked Israel to respond to a United Nations court that last week ruled that the West Bank settlements and Israel’s military rule there are illegal. “Israel must listen to the concerns of the international community,” the leaders of the three countries said in a joint statement. “The protection of civilians is paramount and a requirement under international humanitarian law. Palestinian…

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Britain drops its challenge to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders

Britain drops its challenge to ICC arrest warrants for Israeli leaders

The Guardian reports: The UK has dropped its opposition to an international arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu, removing a key hurdle to one being issued and underlining the tougher stance being taken towards Israel by the new Labour government. Downing Street confirmed on Friday that the government would not submit a challenge to the jurisdiction of the international criminal court, whose chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is seeking a warrant against the Israeli prime minister. The move, first reported by the…

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EU finally sends €1.5B from Russian assets to Ukraine

EU finally sends €1.5B from Russian assets to Ukraine

Politico reports: The European Commission transferred €1.5 billion of profits from investing frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine. After months of grueling negotiations in Brussels, the EU executive finally sent the first batch of funding to the war-torn country. Ninety percent of the cash will be used for military purposes, while the remaining amount will go towards humanitarian aid. EU capitals agreed to use the proceeds generated by investing €192 billion immobilized Russian assets held by the Brussels-based…

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Ukrainian ecologists document what they say is Russian ecocide

Ukrainian ecologists document what they say is Russian ecocide

Ghanna Mamonova writes: Before the dam explosion, residents of the Kherson region in southeastern Ukraine referred to the local reservoir simply as the “sea.” Now, just one year after the June 6, 2023, attack on the Kakhovka Dam, they call it the “dead sea.” Once vast, its water irrigated farms and kept hundreds of thousands of people hydrated. It was replete with fish that had provided sustenance to the local population for generations. The attack, which was carried out by…

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U.S. medics who volunteered in Gaza demand arms embargo over ‘unbearable cruelty’ inflicted by Israel

U.S. medics who volunteered in Gaza demand arms embargo over ‘unbearable cruelty’ inflicted by Israel

The Guardian reports: Dozens of US doctors and nurses who worked in Gaza have written to Joe Biden claiming that the true death toll from Israel’s months-long assault is much higher than previously reported, demanding the US withdraw diplomatic and military support for Israel until there is a ceasefire. The eight-page letter, delivered on Thursday and addressed to Biden, the first lady, Jill Biden, and the vice-president, Kamala Harris, said the medics saw evidence of widespread violations of laws governing…

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‘Uncommitted’ voters could back Harris if Israel-Gaza stance shifts, say delegates

‘Uncommitted’ voters could back Harris if Israel-Gaza stance shifts, say delegates

Axios reports: Pro-Palestinian Democrats were the only Michigan delegates who voted against endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris this week, but they say they’d be willing to reconsider if Harris shifts the administration’s Gaza policies. State of play: One of the two “no” votes, Abbas Alawieh, told Axios the national uncommitted movement has been trying to schedule a meeting with the vice president to discuss how to win back support of anti-war Democratic voters. If Harris meaningfully engages with demands of a ceasefire that…

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Pelosi says Netanyahu gave ‘the worst’ speech to Congress from any foreign leader

Pelosi says Netanyahu gave ‘the worst’ speech to Congress from any foreign leader

The Hill reports: Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress on Wednesday as the “worst” in the body’s history, harshly criticizing the leader’s lack of progress toward a hostage deal with Hamas. “Benjamin Netanyahu’s presentation in the House Chamber today was by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States,” Pelosi wrote on the social platform X after the…

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Kamala Harris ‘always understood that Jesus and justice go together’

Kamala Harris ‘always understood that Jesus and justice go together’

The Associated Press reports: Black clergy who know Vice President Kamala Harris, now the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination, marvel at the fusion of traditions and teachings that have molded her religious faith and social justice values. A Baptist married to a Jewish man, she’s inspired by the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and influenced by the religious traditions of her mother’s native India as well as the Black Church. “She’s had the best of two…

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An online army rises, this time on Kamala Harris’s side

An online army rises, this time on Kamala Harris’s side

The Washington Post reports: Jaelyn Richter, a 27-year-old therapist in the Minneapolis suburbs, was painting her basement with her husband on Sunday when she realized she had the perfect song for a TikTok video about Kamala Harris. Sitting for an hour at her kitchen island, she pieced together a music video on her phone by splicing emoji-adorned clips of Harris dancing over the voice of pop star Chappell Roan singing, “He doesn’t have what it takes to be … a…

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American academic freedom is in peril

American academic freedom is in peril

Ryan Calo and Kate Starbird write: Academics researching online misinformation in the US are learning a hard lesson: Academic freedom cannot be taken for granted. They face a concerted effort—including by members of Congress—to undermine or silence their work documenting false and misleading internet content. The claim is that online misinformation researchers are trying to silence conservative voices. The evidence suggests just the opposite. It’s sobering to remember that the principle of academic freedom scarcely existed in the United States…

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Kamala Harris’s biggest advantage

Kamala Harris’s biggest advantage

Jill Filipovic writes: Of all the reasons Kamala Harris is better equipped than Joe Biden to defeat Donald Trump in November—her relative youth, the fact that she’s a former prosecutor challenging a convicted felon—her biggest advantage may be her record on abortion. Harris served as the Biden administration’s de facto advocate for reproductive rights; it is her voice, not Biden’s, that’s been loudest in objecting to abortion bans and conservative efforts to curtail IVF and contraception. According to the White House, she is the only vice president to…

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