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Category: Politics

We’re only in it for the money: Biden sees more value in donations than votes

We’re only in it for the money: Biden sees more value in donations than votes

Eli Clifton reports: A New York Times poll released this week found that 13% of voters defecting from President Joe Biden, those who voted for him in 2020 but will not do so in November, cite his handling of foreign policy and Israel’s war in Gaza as the reason for pulling their support. But an investigation by Responsible Statecraft finds that those same policies likely benefit the president’s re-election campaign in a different way: his biggest funders happen to support…

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Bernie Sanders: Don’t let Biden’s stance on Israel become the reason Trump gets elected

Bernie Sanders: Don’t let Biden’s stance on Israel become the reason Trump gets elected

Bernie Sanders writes: Biden is not popular and many progressives, including me, strongly disagree with his policies regarding Israel and this disastrous war in Gaza. But, let’s be clear. Biden is not running against God. He is running against Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in American history whose second term, if he is re-elected, will be worse than his first. And, on his worst day, Biden is a thousand times better than Trump. Are you concerned about the extreme…

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Sonoma State University president placed on leave for ‘insubordination’ — an agreement with protesters

Sonoma State University president placed on leave for ‘insubordination’ — an agreement with protesters

The Press Democrat reports: Sonoma State University was rocked Wednesday afternoon when President Mike Lee announced he is stepping aside, at least temporarily, in the wake of a controversial email he sent to students and faculty regarding the demands of campus pro-Palestinian protesters. It’s not known how long Lee will be away. In a Wednesday statement, California State University Chancellor Mildred Garcia wrote: “On Tuesday evening, Sonoma State University President Mike Lee sent a campuswide message concerning an agreement with…

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Texas gov. pardons Daniel Perry, who murdered a police brutality protester in 2020

Texas gov. pardons Daniel Perry, who murdered a police brutality protester in 2020

The Texas Tribune reports: More than a year after a Travis County jury convicted Daniel Perry of murdering a protester in Austin, Gov. Greg Abbott pardoned Perry on Thursday shortly after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended a full pardon. A Texas state district court judge sentenced Perry in May 2023 to 25 years in prison for shooting and killing U.S. Air Force veteran Garrett Foster during a 2020 demonstration protesting police brutality against people of color. One…

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This is what Bruce Robbins, a Jewish professor at Columbia, wants you to know

This is what Bruce Robbins, a Jewish professor at Columbia, wants you to know

  For over seven months, a dominant conversation in the U.S. news media has been about alleged and increased antisemitism on American campuses – culminating in the coverage around student encampments. The “Gaza solidarity encampment” at Columbia University, in particular, has received a lot of attention which sparked encampments across the country — as well as university-backed police repression and violence. In this interview, AJ+ speaks to Dr. Bruce Robbins, a Jewish professor at Columbia University who supported students protesting…

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U.S. doctor (who saved Sen. Duckworth’s life in Iraq) now trapped in Gaza, appeals to Biden to stop the war

U.S. doctor (who saved Sen. Duckworth’s life in Iraq) now trapped in Gaza, appeals to Biden to stop the war

  Democracy Now! speaks with Dr. Adam Hamawy, one of around 20 American medical workers trapped in Gaza after Israel closed the Rafah border crossing into Egypt. A plastic surgeon and Army veteran, Hamawy is on a volunteer mission with the Palestinian American Medical Association at the European Hospital in Khan Younis. Like many Gazans, the U.S. medical workers are now facing dehydration and other deadly health conditions. “We’re continuing to do our job. … It’s tiring, but this is…

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Interior Dept staffer becomes first Jewish political appointee to publicly resign over war in Gaza

Interior Dept staffer becomes first Jewish political appointee to publicly resign over war in Gaza

The Associated Press reports: An Interior Department staffer on Wednesday became the first Jewish political appointee to publicly resign in protest of U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza. Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Interior Department, accused President Joe Biden of using Jews to justify U.S. policy in the conflict. Call had worked for the presidential campaigns of both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and was a longtime activist and advocate…

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White House opposes House bill to force Israeli arm shipments as it approves $1 billion more weapons

White House opposes House bill to force Israeli arm shipments as it approves $1 billion more weapons

Politico reports: The White House announced on Monday that it opposes a Republican-led bill that would force President Joe Biden to send withheld military assistance to Israel. “We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the president’s ability to deploy a U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. House Republicans introduced the bill over the weekend in response to Biden’s decision to pause a shipment of weapons in an effort…

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She campaigned for a Texas school board seat as a GOP hard-liner. Now she’s rejecting her party’s extremism

She campaigned for a Texas school board seat as a GOP hard-liner. Now she’s rejecting her party’s extremism

By Jeremy Schwartz, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, May 15, 2024 This story was originally published by ProPublica Weeks after winning a school board seat in her deeply red Texas county, Courtney Gore immersed herself in the district’s curriculum, spending her nights and weekends poring over hundreds of pages of lesson plans that she had fanned out on the coffee table in her living room and even across her bed. She was searching for evidence of the sweeping national movement…

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The New York Trump case embodies the defendant

The New York Trump case embodies the defendant

George T. Conway III writes: Not all that long ago, I thought that the trial currently being held in The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump would be the last one I’d want to see as the first one tried against the former president. It seemed the least serious of the cases against him. Here’s a man who tried to overthrow American democracy by launching a coup to stay in power. A man who allegedly stole dozens of boxes of classified…

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In defense of Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson assails U.S. government in an attack on the judicial system

In defense of Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson assails U.S. government in an attack on the judicial system

The Associated Press reports: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson assailed the hush money case against Donald Trump Tuesday as an illegitimate “sham,” becoming the highest-ranking Republican to show up at court, embrace the former president’s claims of political persecution and attack the U.S. system of justice. It was a remarkable moment in modern American politics: The House speaker amplifying Trump’s defense and turning the Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the U.S. government…

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Trump blasts his trial judges. Then his fans call for violence

Trump blasts his trial judges. Then his fans call for violence

Reuters reports: On a recent Tuesday morning, a visibly frustrated Donald Trump sat through a tense hearing in the first-ever criminal trial of a former American president. During a break, he let rip on his social media platform. New York Justice Juan Merchan, Trump declared on Truth Social, is a “highly conflicted” overseer of a “kangaroo court.” Trump supporters swiftly replied to his post with a blitz of attacks on Merchan. The comments soon turned ugly. Some called for Merchan…

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New York City’s Union Theological Seminary votes to divest from Israel’s war on Gaza

New York City’s Union Theological Seminary votes to divest from Israel’s war on Gaza

  As student protests around the world call for their educational institutions to divest from companies with ties to Israel, we speak to the Reverend Dr. Serene Jones, the president of Union Theological Seminary, an ecumenical seminary affiliated with Columbia University that is one of the first schools to begin divesting from companies that “profit from war in Palestine/Israel.” Jones says divestment is an extension of Union’s “long policy of trying our best to bring our values, our core mission…

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Israel cabinet ministers and allies say Palestinians should be ‘encouraged’ to emigrate

Israel cabinet ministers and allies say Palestinians should be ‘encouraged’ to emigrate

The Times of Israel reports: Cabinet ministers and MKs called for the rebuilding of Jewish settlements in Gaza at an ultra-nationalist march and rally attended by thousands in the town of Sderot, close to the Gaza border on Tuesday. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir declared that the “voluntary emigration” of Palestinians from Gaza should be promoted, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi insisted that the resettling of Gaza was the only way to ensure Israeli security, and Religious Zionism MK Zvi…

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Facing an endless barrage, Ukraine’s air defenses are withering

Facing an endless barrage, Ukraine’s air defenses are withering

The New York Times reports: This is what a year of Russian missile strikes on Ukraine looks like. Ukrainian air defenses used to intercept most missiles, but in recent months, more and more have made it through. The data, from a New York Times analysis of daily Ukrainian military reports, shows a major shift: Ukraine is increasingly failing to stop Russian missiles, crippling its ability to protect major infrastructure and plunging cities into darkness. Russian air assaults have struck critical…

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U.S. overhauls electric grid to make way for more renewables

U.S. overhauls electric grid to make way for more renewables

Reuters reports: The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday approved the first major electric transmission policy update in over a decade that aims to speed up new interregional lines to move more clean energy to meet growing demand amid the explosion of electric vehicles, data centers and artificial intelligence. Approved in a 2-1 vote, the new rule is also the first time the FERC has ever squarely addressed the need for long-term transmission planning, playing a key role in…

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