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Category: Politics

Trump and allies planning militarized mass deportations, detention camps

Trump and allies planning militarized mass deportations, detention camps

The Washington Post reports: Faced with a surge of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018 and 2019, Donald Trump’s White House discussed ways to more aggressively deploy the resources and the might of the U.S. military. Aides and officials spoke privately about detaining migrants on military bases and flying them out of the country on military planes — ideas that the Pentagon headed off. Throughout his presidency, Trump himself would frequently demand to send troops to the border…

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More Republicans now want climate action. But Trump could derail everything

More Republicans now want climate action. But Trump could derail everything

Politico reports: Former President Donald Trump’s hard-line positions on climate change aren’t deterring some members of his party from backing policies to stop global warming. But their challenges are likely to grow as the GOP is poised to nominate a presidential candidate openly hostile to climate science — after years in which Republicans have been divided over whether their party should address the problem at all. A Trump victory would likely strengthen the hand of the dominant strain of party…

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Biden sees ongoing slaughter of Palestinians as useful leverage for securing release of Israeli hostages

Biden sees ongoing slaughter of Palestinians as useful leverage for securing release of Israeli hostages

Reuters reports: The United States on Tuesday again vetoed a draft United Nations Security Council resolution on the Israel-Hamas war, blocking a demand for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire as it instead pushes the 15-member body to call for a temporary ceasefire linked to the release of hostages held by Hamas. Thirteen council members voted in favor of the Algerian-drafted text, while Britain abstained. It was the third U.S. veto of a draft resolution since the start of the current fighting…

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Biden campaign official in Michigan: Israel-Hamas war not likely to end ‘anytime soon’

Biden campaign official in Michigan: Israel-Hamas war not likely to end ‘anytime soon’

The Detroit News reports: A top Biden campaign official maintained Monday that President Joe Biden was not ignoring the concerns of Michigan residents over the deaths of civilians in the Israel-Hamas war, but he doesn’t expect the conflict is “going to end anytime soon.” Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Landrieu said the ongoing war between Israel and the Hamas militant group is “troublesome and problematic.” But no one’s concerns are being dismissed and the Democratic president is doing the best he…

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Why the U.S. should start telling the whole truth about Israel’s nuclear weapons

Why the U.S. should start telling the whole truth about Israel’s nuclear weapons

William Burr, Richard Lawless, and Henry Sokolski write: With the Israel-Hamas war, a nuclear Rubicon of sorts has been crossed: Two elected Israeli officials — a government minister and a member of parliament — not only publicly referenced Israel’s possession of nuclear weapons but suggested that they be detonated over Gaza. This was a disturbing first. Meanwhile, in Washington, a long-standing secret executive order has prohibited American officials from even acknowledging that Israel has nuclear arms. Given the increasing risks…

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Trump allies prepare to infuse ‘Christian nationalism’ in second administration

Trump allies prepare to infuse ‘Christian nationalism’ in second administration

Politico reports: An influential think tank close to Donald Trump is developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should the former president return to power, according to documents obtained by POLITICO. Spearheading the effort is Russell Vought, who served as Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget during his first term and has remained close to him. Vought, who is frequently cited as a potential chief of staff in a second Trump White House, is…

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Trump’s RNC takeover is on the brink of becoming a ‘purge’

Trump’s RNC takeover is on the brink of becoming a ‘purge’

The Daily Beast reports: First came the internal grumbling about Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. Then came McDaniel’s decision to step down from her post at the end of February as she lost the support of Donald Trump. After that came Trump’s move to put forward a slate of loyalists to take over the party’s top spots—including an election-denying state party chair, a Trump campaign senior adviser, and the former president’s own daughter-in-law. Next could come…

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Fani Willis turns the tables on her attackers

Fani Willis turns the tables on her attackers

Jennifer Rubin writes: Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani Willis took the stand last week under attack from Michael Roman, former henchman 0f four-times-indicted former president Donald Trump, and many in the media and legal community. At issue was whether her romantic relationship with a special counsel, Nathan Wade, was grounds for disqualifying her from the sprawling RICO case she brought against Trump and nearly 20 co-defendants (some of whom struck plea deals). What was legally at issue — the…

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Judge Engoron’s ruling is a detailed road map to Trump’s thievery

Judge Engoron’s ruling is a detailed road map to Trump’s thievery

David Cay Johnston writes: The news about the eye-popping $355 million judgment against Donald Trump Friday minimized or even missed the real story in the judge’s richly detailed ruling. In justifying his findings of fact, New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s analysis of testimony in Trump’s seven-week civil fraud trial in Manhattan showed how everything Trump does is based on consistent and shameless cheating, deceiving, falsifying documents, and lying. The 92-page ruling establishes that Trump isn’t a business genius, a modern…

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UN experts appalled by reported human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls

UN experts appalled by reported human rights violations against Palestinian women and girls

UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights: UN experts today expressed alarm over credible allegations of egregious human rights violations to which Palestinian women and girls continue to be subjected in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Palestinian women and girls have reportedly been arbitrarily executed in Gaza, often together with family members, including their children, according to information received. “We are shocked by reports of the deliberate targeting and extrajudicial killing of Palestinian women and children…

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Systematic violation of human rights: The incarceration conditions of Palestinians in Israel since Oct 7

Systematic violation of human rights: The incarceration conditions of Palestinians in Israel since Oct 7

Physicians for Human Rights Israel: Since October 7th, any semblance of restraint has been cast aside regarding the treatment of Palestinians in Israeli incarceration and detention facilities. Forced disappearances, torture, and severe violations of human rights, particularly in terms of health, are now inherent in the practices and policies of Israeli security bodies responsible for Palestinians in custody. These actions have garnered support and, at times, were explicitly demanded by the political ranks. Simultaneously, the judicial system has allowed these…

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A key withdrawal shows Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery to fight Russia

A key withdrawal shows Ukraine doesn’t have enough artillery to fight Russia

The Associated Press reports: Dwindling ammunition threatens Ukraine’s hold on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line under withering assault by Russian artillery. Defensive lines are in jeopardy. Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region on Saturday after daily Russian onslaughts from three directions for the last four months. Avdiivka was a stronghold for Ukrainian positions deeper inside the country, away from Russia. A frontline city ever since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, the fortified settlement…

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Denmark will donate its ‘entire artillery’ to Ukraine

Denmark will donate its ‘entire artillery’ to Ukraine

The Kyiv Independent reports: Denmark has decided to deliver all the artillery rounds from its stockpiles to Ukraine, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told the Ukrainian Lunch at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 17. Artillery shells are among the most crucial military supplies for Ukraine, as they are used daily in high numbers on the Ukrainian battlefields. “If you ask Ukrainians, they are asking us for ammunition now, artillery now. From the Danish side, we decided to donate our…

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Alexei Navalny and the West’s corruption

Alexei Navalny and the West’s corruption

In 2021, Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the former president of Estonia, said: We are here to honor Alexei Navalny, a man hounded, persecuted, beaten, poisoned, and jailed for standing up to a thuggish autocracy that is well on its way to classic totalitarian rule. His crime? Peacefully using his fundamental human right of freedom of expression to challenge a regime-held together by storm-troopers, violence, and murder. Navalny’s story is not a new one. In the decade before the collapse of communism,…

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Why are Israel and its Western allies targeting UNRWA?

Why are Israel and its Western allies targeting UNRWA?

  About 20 countries have announced suspension of funding to UNRWA, the agency that has been providing services to Palestinian refugees since 1950. The official reason for the suspension was Israel’s accusation that a dozen UNRWA employees in Gaza had participated in the October 7 Hamas attacks. To understand the potential consequences of undermining UNRWA – especially amid a humanitarian catastrophe – host Steve Clemons speaks with Leila Hilal, a former adviser to the UNRWA commissioner-general, and Anne Irfan, lecturer…

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib urges Michigan Democrats to vote against Biden in the primary

Rep. Rashida Tlaib urges Michigan Democrats to vote against Biden in the primary

NBC News reports: Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., is urging Democrats in Dearborn, Michigan, to vote against President Joe Biden in the state’s upcoming Democratic primary. “If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted,” Tlaib said in a new video posted to social media on Saturday while standing outside an early voting location. She joined growing calls from progressive activists in Michigan to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 27 instead of…

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