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Category: Politics

German far right set for first major electoral victory since World War II

German far right set for first major electoral victory since World War II

Politico reports: Germany’s far right looks to have claimed its biggest electoral success since World War II, winning a regional vote in the country’s East on Sunday, according to an initial projection. Triumph for the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD), in a region that was under communist control during the Cold War, is a huge blow for Germany’s political center — not least for the three parties in the coalition of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, which appear to have suffered significant…

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Trump contorts himself on abortion in search of political gain

Trump contorts himself on abortion in search of political gain

Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman write: At the age of 53, in a 1999 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Donald J. Trump described himself as “very pro-choice.” In 2011, without any explanation about the change, he informed a packed room at a conservative conference that he was now “pro-life.” In 2016, as a Republican candidate for president, he told the MSNBC host Chris Matthews that he had become so ardently opposed to abortion rights that he would even support…

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Trump calls the press the ‘enemy of the people’ and minutes later a man storms the rally’s media section

Trump calls the press the ‘enemy of the people’ and minutes later a man storms the rally’s media section

Vanity Fair reports: A man attending a campaign rally for Donald Trump on Friday stormed the media section, attempting to climb up the side of the enclosed area, before being tasered by law enforcement on the scene, according to a video posted to social media by a reporter for CBS News. Less than ten minutes before, the former president called journalists the “enemy of the people.” Trump claimed that the New York Times is losing “reader after reader,” which brings…

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‘Dangerous and un-American’: New recording of JD Vance’s dark vision of women and immigration

‘Dangerous and un-American’: New recording of JD Vance’s dark vision of women and immigration

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, said that professional women “choose a path to misery” when they prioritize careers over having children in a September 2021 podcast interview in which he also claimed men in America were “suppressed” in their masculinity. The Ohio senator and vice-presidential candidate said of women like his classmates at Yale Law School that “pursuing racial or gender equity is like the value system that gives their life meaning … [but] they all…

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Counting the Vote: A Firing Line special with Margaret Hoover

Counting the Vote: A Firing Line special with Margaret Hoover

  In this one-hour documentary, Margaret Hoover embarks on a journey to explore voting systems across the United States. She examines methods to increase voter confidence and sheds light on states that face challenges in their vote count processes as the 2024 election approaches. “Counting the Vote” looks back at two of the most bitterly contested elections in American history—2000 and 2020—and examines subsequent efforts to make the casting and counting of ballots more efficient and inclusive. Several pivotal swing…

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‘Israelis are frustrated, but do they want to stop the war? Not exactly’

‘Israelis are frustrated, but do they want to stop the war? Not exactly’

+972 Magazine reports: Nearly a year on from the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, the Israeli army continues to wage a devastating war in the Gaza Strip with no apparent end in sight. There is now abundant evidence that senior political and security figures failed to heed warnings in the lead-up to the Hamas-led October 7 attack, and the army has acknowledged that it was too slow to respond. Investigations have confirmed that senior commanders employed the infamous “Hannibal directive,” permitting Israeli forces to endanger the…

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Gov. Gavin Newsom has the chance to make AI history

Gov. Gavin Newsom has the chance to make AI history

Vox reports: Advocates say it is a modest law setting “clear, predictable, common-sense safety standards” for artificial intelligence. Opponents say it is a dangerous and arrogant step that will “stifle innovation.” In any event, SB 1047 — California state Sen. Scott Wiener’s proposal to regulate advanced AI models offered by companies doing business in the state — has now passed the California State Assembly by a margin of 48 to 16. Back in May, it passed the Senate by 32 to 1. Once the…

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Trump in damage-control mode over abortion backlash from the right

Trump in damage-control mode over abortion backlash from the right

NBC News reports: Former President Donald Trump is in damage control mode on abortion after telling NBC News that Florida’s six-week ban is “too short” and declining to take a clear stance on a state ballot measure that would expand access to the procedure. The backlash from anti-abortion advocates was fierce, with some warning that the Republican presidential nominee was risking losing support from a key bloc of the party’s base. Alarmed by what she saw, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of…

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The GOP is making false claims about noncitizens voting. It’s affecting real voters

The GOP is making false claims about noncitizens voting. It’s affecting real voters

NPR reports: Earlier this month, Alabama voter William Pritchett received an unexpected letter from election officials telling him his voter registration was made inactive and was “on the path for removal from the statewide voter list.” He was among more than 3,200 people on the state’s voter rolls whose registrations had been flagged by Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen as part of a new initiative to identify possible noncitizens. Yet Pritchett was born in Alabama and has always been…

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Ultrawealthy donors quietly push Harris to drop tax on ultrawealthy

Ultrawealthy donors quietly push Harris to drop tax on ultrawealthy

The New York Times reports: Donors to Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign are pushing her to reconsider supporting a proposed tax on the wealthiest Americans, as some Wall Street and Silicon Valley executives try to reshape the Democratic nominee’s governing agenda. Ms. Harris’s campaign last week said she supported the tax increases included in President Biden’s latest White House budget proposal. One of those plans would require Americans worth at least $100 million to pay taxes on investment gains even…

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‘Sowing the seeds for more hatred’ – UN’s top Gaza official speaks to Mehdi Hasan

‘Sowing the seeds for more hatred’ – UN’s top Gaza official speaks to Mehdi Hasan

  In this episode of “Mehdi Unfiltered,” a discussion about the threats facing Palestinians in Gaza in an exclusive interview with the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, Philippe Lazzarini. Mehdi also explores why U.S. news organizations can’t get their coverage of Donald Trump right in a conversation with author Wajahat Ali and James Fallows, former chief speechwriter to President Jimmy Carter. The episode also looks into the situation for women and minorities in Afghanistan with Ali…

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How U.S. universities are trying to muzzle pro-Palestine protests before they restart

How U.S. universities are trying to muzzle pro-Palestine protests before they restart

Middle East Eye reports: The academic semester has kicked off at many US universities this week, and schools are working in a myriad of ways to tamp out the pro-Palestinian and student-led demonstrations that roiled the country this past spring. As students make their way back to campus, familiarising themselves with class schedules and reconnecting with university life, administrations have been working – often in conjunction with the police – to weed out the possibility of a repeat of last…

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‘It is not the job of the pro-life movement to vote for President Trump,’ says leading anti-abortion activist

‘It is not the job of the pro-life movement to vote for President Trump,’ says leading anti-abortion activist

Politico reports: For years, the anti-abortion activist Lila Rose has pushed the GOP to curtail access to abortion. But now, as Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance conspicuously soften their abortion message ahead of the November election, Rose — who leads the prominent anti-abortion group Live Action — is embracing a more radical strategy: Urging her followers not to vote for Trump unless he changes course. That position — which she teased in a series of social media posts earlier this week — defies both Democratic…

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U.S. Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery

U.S. Army rebukes Trump campaign for incident at Arlington National Cemetery

CNN reports: The US Army issued a stark rebuke of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign over the incident on Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, saying in a statement on Thursday that participants in the ceremony “were made aware of federal laws” regarding political activity at the cemetery, and “abruptly pushed aside” an employee of the cemetery. “Participants in the August 26th ceremony and the subsequent Section 60 visit were made aware of federal laws, Army regulations and DoD policies,…

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Decision on Georgia election board threatens Kemp’s détente with Trump

Decision on Georgia election board threatens Kemp’s détente with Trump

The Washington Post reports: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) has enjoyed an unusually friendly public rapport in recent days with former president Donald Trump. After years of heaping insults on Kemp for refusing to help reverse Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, Trump praised the governor on Truth Social this month for his “help and support.” On Thursday, Kemp plans to attend a fundraiser in Atlanta for the Republican presidential nominee, who is locked in a virtual tie with…

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Trump threatens to jail Mark Zuckerberg for life

Trump threatens to jail Mark Zuckerberg for life

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump writes in a new book set to be published next week that Mark Zuckerberg plotted against him during the 2020 election and said the Meta chief executive would “spend the rest of his life in prison” if he did it again. It represents Trump’s most recent attack on Zuckerberg, who he has repeatedly accused of intervening in the last presidential election. And it comes as Meta has taken steps to assure conservatives it will…

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