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Category: Politics

Democratic elites were slow to admit what voters already knew

Democratic elites were slow to admit what voters already knew

Ezra Klein writes: President Biden and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez agree on this much: It is the elites who are trying to take Biden down, ignoring the sentiments of legions of Democratic voters. But when I started arguing in February that his age would mortally wound his candidacy, it didn’t feel that way to me. I saw the elites propping him up, ignoring the sentiments of legions of Democratic voters. Who’s right? Maybe we both are. In any system, elites are…

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Biden’s continued candidacy was an insult to the intelligence of American voters

Biden’s continued candidacy was an insult to the intelligence of American voters

Helen Lewis writes: Allow me to summarize the response from outside America to the news that President Joe Biden is not running for reelection: Thank God. Here in Britain, the most common reaction in the minutes after the news broke was sheer relief. Relief that Donald Trump will not be allowed an easy path to a second term. Relief that the Democrats will put forward a candidate who is able to bear a full campaign schedule—defending the party’s record and…

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Anne Applebaum: ‘Often, for autocrats, the second time in power is worse’

Anne Applebaum: ‘Often, for autocrats, the second time in power is worse’

Tim Adams writes: A couple of years ago, in the Atlantic magazine, journalist Anne Applebaum wrote an era-defining cover story called “The Bad Guys Are Winning”. Her argument was not only that democratic institutions were in decline across the world, but that there was a new version of old threats to them: rogue states and dictatorships were increasingly linked not by ideology, as in the cold war, but by powerful currents of criminal and mercenary interest, often enabled by western…

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Tech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chain

Tech broligarchs are lining up to court Trump. And Vance is one more link in the chain

Carole Cadwalladr writes: Less than a month after Donald Trump was elected president in November 2016, he invited the cream of Silicon Valley’s tech elite to a meeting at his transition team’s headquarters at Trump Tower. It was an awkward affair. Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg, Google’s Larry Page and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos had facial expressions that ranged from a semi-rictus grin to full tech-mogul-in-a-hostage-situation. But then, in a sense they were. There was a new sheriff in town – and none…

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What impact could the latest ICJ ruling on Israel have?

What impact could the latest ICJ ruling on Israel have?

  Illegal Israeli settlements have been steadily expanding in Palestinian territories for years. Now the UN’s top court says it’s time for Israel to stop, reverse course, and repair the damages. The International Court of Justice has ruled Israel’s occupation is unlawful and is fueling a surge in violence. However, the court’s findings are not legally binding — and the Israeli government has ignored previous decisions. So, will the ICJ’s advisory opinion have any practical implications?

Lebanese journalist wounded by Israeli strike carries torch at Olympics

Lebanese journalist wounded by Israeli strike carries torch at Olympics

The New Arab reports: A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris to honour journalists wounded and killed in the field on Sunday. The torch relay, which started in May, is part of celebrations in which about 10,000 people from various walks of life were chosen to carry the flame across France before the Games opening ceremony on 26 July. Christina Assi of Agence France-Presse was among six journalists struck by Israeli shelling on 13 October while reporting on…

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Kamala Harris is ‘ready to step up and unite the party,’ says Elizabeth Warren

Kamala Harris is ‘ready to step up and unite the party,’ says Elizabeth Warren

CNBC reports: Vice President Kamala Harris has gained more public support from Democratic lawmakers as a potential replacement for President Joe Biden, should he decide to drop out of the race against former President Donald Trump. California Rep. Mark Takano on Saturday became the thirty-sixth Democrat on Capitol Hill to call on Biden to exit the race on the record. He added that he believes Harris should be the one to helm the ticket. “President Biden’s greatest accomplishment remains saving…

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DNC moves forward with nominating Biden via virtual roll call as though his candidacy is not in question

DNC moves forward with nominating Biden via virtual roll call as though his candidacy is not in question

NBC News reports: Democrats are in an unprecedented crisis over who should be their presidential candidate. But the party committee that governs the nominating process met Friday and proceeded as if everything was normal and its entire plan was not at risk of being upended at any minute. As calls mount for President Joe Biden to step aside and let another Democrat lead the party into the November election against former President Donald Trump, the Democratic National Convention’s Rules Committee…

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We volunteered at a Gaza hospital. What we saw was unspeakable

We volunteered at a Gaza hospital. What we saw was unspeakable

Mark Perlmutter and Feroze Sidhwa write: In the United States we would never dream of operating on anyone without consent, let alone a malnourished and barely conscious 9-year-old girl in septic shock. Nevertheless, when we saw Juri, that’s exactly what we did. We have no idea how Juri ended up in the Gaza European Hospital preoperative area. All we could see was that she had an external fixator — a scaffold of metal pins and rods — on her left…

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Israel confirms airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Hodeidah port

Israel confirms airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Hodeidah port

Middle East Eye reports: The official spokesperson for the Houthis, Nasruddin Amer, described the Israeli airstrike on the oil tanks and power facility at Hodeidah port as “a brutal act of aggression against Yemen aimed at worsening the suffering of its people and pressuring Yemen to halt its support for Gaza.” The Israeli military announced that it carried out strikes on the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah in Yemen earlier on Saturday. In a post on X, Amer dismissed…

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JD Vance’s wife faces racist online backlash from far-right social media posts

JD Vance’s wife faces racist online backlash from far-right social media posts

ABC News reports: The wife of Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance, Usha Chilukuri Vance, and the couple’s children have become the targets of backlash for their Indian ancestry. Chilukuri Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants who grew up in San Diego, as well as RNC speaker Harmeet Dhillon — who is Sikh and Indian – are facing anti-Asian hate from far-right figures online. Posts appear to have spiked this week following Vance’s nomination criticizing Vance for marrying someone who…

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NOAA is under threat from Project 2025

NOAA is under threat from Project 2025

Zoë Schlanger writes: In the United States, as in most other countries, weather forecasts are a freely accessible government amenity. The National Weather Service issues alerts and predictions, warning of hurricanes and excessive heat and rainfall, all at the total cost to American taxpayers of roughly $4 per person per year. Anyone with a TV, smartphone, radio, or newspaper can know what tomorrow’s weather will look like, whether a hurricane is heading toward their town, or if a drought has…

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Rep. Zoe Lofgren: Biden is on a trajectory to lose the election. He needs to step aside

Rep. Zoe Lofgren: Biden is on a trajectory to lose the election. He needs to step aside

  NBC News reports: Another close Bay Area ally of Pelosi, longtime Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., also joined the group of detractors Friday, releasing a letter that she sent to Biden on Thursday night. In it, Lofgren mentioned her work on the House Jan. 6 Committee, warning that Trump “remains as grave a threat to the Constitutional order and rule of law that he was on January 6, 2021 when he incited insurrection.” “We must face the reality that widespread…

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Democratic donors begin mobilizing to raise money for Harris if she’s the nominee

Democratic donors begin mobilizing to raise money for Harris if she’s the nominee

Politico reports: Allies of Vice President Kamala Harris have begun courting Democratic donors to provide financial support for her if President Joe Biden drops out of the 2024 race. One Democratic donor adviser has begun collecting pledges from female Democratic donors to support Harris, while a women’s political organization has begun speaking to its donor base in an effort to ensure an initial wave of contributions to a potential Harris campaign, according to people familiar with the efforts. These people…

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Plastics pollution has become a ‘crisis,’ Biden administration acknowledges

Plastics pollution has become a ‘crisis,’ Biden administration acknowledges

Inside Climate News reports: Single-use plastic would be phased out of all U.S. government operations by 2035 under a new federal plastics pollution strategy unveiled Friday by President Joe Biden’s administration, which cited a “crisis” of littered oceans and poisoned air due to plastics. “The Federal government is—for the first time—formally acknowledging the severity of the plastic pollution crisis and the scale of the response that will be required to effectively confront it,” said Brenda Mallory and Ali Zaidi, the…

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Israel’s settlement policies break international law, International Court of Justice finds

Israel’s settlement policies break international law, International Court of Justice finds

The Guardian reports: The top United Nations court has ruled that Israel’s settlement policies and use of natural resources in the occupied Palestinian territories violate international law. The international court of justice said “the transfer by Israel of settlers to the West Bank and Jerusalem as well as Israel’s maintenance of their presence, is contrary to article 49 of the fourth geneva convention”. The panel of 15 judges from around the world also said the use of natural resources was…

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