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Category: Politics

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just incinerated his credibility as an environmentalist

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just incinerated his credibility as an environmentalist

The Washington Post reports: As he suspended his independent presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked at length about the “many key issues” on which he claims that he and Trump are aligned. What he did not explain were their profound disagreements in the area that for many years was central to Kennedy’s career and public image: environmental protection. Kennedy had promised to be “the best environmental president in American history.” For decades, as…

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Labor board confirms Amazon drivers are employees, in finding hailed by union

Labor board confirms Amazon drivers are employees, in finding hailed by union

The Washington Post reports: In a loss for Amazon that could force it to meet the Teamsters union at the bargaining table, a regional National Labor Relations Board director said Thursday that the company is a joint employer of some of the thousands of contractor delivery drivers who deliver its packages. The e-commerce giant has previously argued that it should not be responsible for alleged union busting or required to bargain with driver unions, because the drivers who ferry packages…

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What Kamala Harris was really saying in her convention speech

What Kamala Harris was really saying in her convention speech

Jeff Greenfield writes: What ultimately separates standout politicians from the rest is an ability to connect with the American people. It sounds obvious, but it’s a far more challenging task than it seems. Kamala Harris proved in her acceptance speech Thursday night that she understood the assignment. She’s already a unique presidential nominee, a biracial woman with a blended family. She’s faced attacks on her identity from Donald Trump and his allies. What Harris did in her acceptance speech was…

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We’re not going back to an America that wasn’t that great

We’re not going back to an America that wasn’t that great

Noah Berlatsky writes: “We’re not going back” is a way to remind people that Trump is old, rich, and that we’ve been there and done that. But it’s also, more subtly, a reminder that Trump represents a reactionary, bigoted American tradition which we should reject. In 2016, Hillary Clinton made the fact that she could be the first woman president a central campaign theme. In 2008, the fact that Obama might be the first Black president was a huge aspect…

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RFK Jr. was my drug dealer

RFK Jr. was my drug dealer

Kurt Andersen writes: The leading third-party candidate for president—an environmental lawyer and activist, a son and nephew of legendary liberal Democratic politicians—just quit the race and announced that he is joining the campaign of the most anti-environment president and presidential nominee in recent history, the leader of a Republican Party he has turned into a right-wing, anti-democratic, protofascist personality cult. I could go on and on and on, cataloging the contradictions and abandonment of principle, all gobsmacking. But Donald Trump…

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Palestinian American lawmaker, Georgia Rep. Ruwa Romman, gives speech the DNC wouldn’t allow on stage

Palestinian American lawmaker, Georgia Rep. Ruwa Romman, gives speech the DNC wouldn’t allow on stage

  Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic nomination Thursday after a four-day convention in Chicago where her campaign refused to allow a Palestinian American to take the stage to address Israel’s war on Gaza. We hear Georgia state Representative Ruwa Romman, who was among the list of speakers offered by the Uncommitted National Movement that the Harris campaign rejected, reading the speech she would have given on the convention floor had the DNC and the Harris campaign allowed her…

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Putin is getting rattled

Putin is getting rattled

Serge Schmemann writes: In purely military terms, Ukraine’s surprise incursion of Russia earlier this month is a dubious gamble. Moscow has not diverted forces from its grinding advances on the Donetsk front, a main focus of the current fighting, and the physical cost in dead or captured troops and evacuated citizens does not concern Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. The more significant potential of the invasion lies on the other front — that of information, propaganda, morale, image and competing narratives….

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Let a Palestinian speak

Let a Palestinian speak

Zeynep Tufekci writes: On Wednesday at the Democratic convention, Jon Polin, the father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an American hostage held by Hamas in Gaza, reminded listeners that there was a “surplus of agony” on all sides of the conflict in the Middle East. “In a competition of pain,” Polin said, “there are no winners.” But there’s one group whose pain will not be heard from the convention stage: Palestinian Americans. And there is a loser: the Democratic Party. A group…

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Michigan Democratic Party chair joins UAW in pushing for a Palestinian voice at convention

Michigan Democratic Party chair joins UAW in pushing for a Palestinian voice at convention

The Detroit News reports: The United Auto Workers and the head of the Michigan Democratic Party on Thursday called on organizers of the Democratic National Convention to allow a Palestinian American to address delegates at the final night of the four-day convention amid deep divisions in the party over Israel’s war in Gaza. Uncommitted delegates and supporters staged a sit-in after being told by DNC officials Wednesday night that there wouldn’t be a Palestinian American speaking from the convention’s main…

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Uncommitted delegates speak out after sleeping outside DNC to protest silencing of Palestinians

Uncommitted delegates speak out after sleeping outside DNC to protest silencing of Palestinians

  As “uncommitted” delegates continue their sit-in just outside the Democratic National Convention in protest of the party’s refusal to meet demands to platform a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage, we hear from two uncommitted delegates who have made a concerted effort to bring Israel’s war on Gaza to the forefront and to push the Harris campaign on its policy in the Middle East. Asma Mohammed, a campaign manager for Vote Uncommitted Minnesota and a delegate from Minnesota,…

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‘So Horrific’: Doctor recounts treating patients in Gaza injured in massacres enabled by U.S. bombs

‘So Horrific’: Doctor recounts treating patients in Gaza injured in massacres enabled by U.S. bombs

  Tanya Haj-Hassan is a pediatric intensive care physician who has volunteered in Gaza multiple times over the past 10 months. She joins us to recount what she witnessed there and to explain why she is calling for an end to U.S. support for the Israeli military and the resumption of comprehensive humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Over the course of Israel’s assault, Haj-Hassan has treated victims of “massacre after massacre,” with injuries and casualties “enabled by American bombs.”…

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Israeli demands for troops in Gaza blocking truce deal, sources say

Israeli demands for troops in Gaza blocking truce deal, sources say

Reuters reports: Disagreements over Israel’s future military presence in Gaza and over Palestinian prisoner releases are obstructing a ceasefire and hostage deal, according to ten sources familiar with the round of U.S.-mediated talks that concluded last week. The sources, who include two Hamas officials and three Western diplomats, told Reuters the disagreements stemmed from demands Israel has introduced since Hamas accepted a version of a ceasefire proposal unveiled by U.S. President Joe Biden in May. All the sources said Hamas…

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Why America fell for guns

Why America fell for guns

Megan Kang writes: In 1970, amid a national confrontation with the United States’ gun culture following the assassinations of Robert F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr, the historian Richard Hofstadter struggled to make sense of how the country had become the ‘only industrial nation in which the possession of rifles, shotguns, and handguns is lawfully prevalent among large numbers of its population.’ Writing for the magazine American Heritage, he expressed grave concern for a country ‘afloat with weapons –…

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What I saw was ‘unfathomable’: Doctor who worked in Gaza speaks out against U.S. arming of Israel

What I saw was ‘unfathomable’: Doctor who worked in Gaza speaks out against U.S. arming of Israel

  A group of American doctors who treated patients in Gaza held a press conference in Chicago on Tuesday to describe the suffering they saw among Palestinians injured and killed in Israel’s war on the territory. The press conference, taking place during the Democratic National Convention, was organized by the Uncommitted National Movement, which is pressuring Democrats for an end to blanket U.S. support for Israel. Among those who spoke was Dr. Ahmed Yousaf, who returned from Gaza just weeks…

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Former Rep. Andy Levin: ‘The acid test for Jewish people is, how do we treat our Palestinian cousins?’

Former Rep. Andy Levin: ‘The acid test for Jewish people is, how do we treat our Palestinian cousins?’

  We speak with former Michigan Congressmember Andy Levin, a former synagogue president, who lost his 2022 Democratic primary in a race that saw millions spent by pro-Israel groups to unseat the progressive Jewish lawmaker. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and other lobby groups have used the same playbook over the years to defeat members of Congress who do not toe the line, and Levin says the Democratic Party has to act to stop such “dark money” from…

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