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The real ‘Robert Hur report.’ How the Special Counsel report has been misinterpreted

The real ‘Robert Hur report.’ How the Special Counsel report has been misinterpreted

Andrew Weissmann and Ryan Goodman write: The Special Counsel Robert Hur report has been grossly mischaracterized by the press. The report finds that the evidence of a knowing, willful violation of the criminal laws is wanting. Indeed, the report, on page 6, notes that there are “innocent explanations” that Hur “cannot refute.” That is but one of myriad examples we outline in great detail below of the report repeatedly finding a lack of proof. And those findings mean, in DOJ-speak,…

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Evangelicals’ Trump worship looks more like QAnon every day

Evangelicals’ Trump worship looks more like QAnon every day

Ron Filipowski writes: I have watched every Donald Trump rally, interview, and speech since he left the White House in Jan. 2021. It’s certainly been interesting to observe the evolution of his political messaging over that time—as he went from desperately trying to resuscitate his political image and career in 2021 following the Jan. 6 attack, to reclaiming his role of Republican kingmaker through his use of primary endorsements in 2022, to crafting his rally speeches and policy positions in…

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IDF moves closer to Rafah offensive despite ‘bloodbath’ warning

IDF moves closer to Rafah offensive despite ‘bloodbath’ warning

The Guardian reports: Israel has moved closer to a full-scale ground offensive against the southern Gaza city of Rafah, as Benjamin Netayahu ordered military leaders to present a plan to evacuate civilians from the area. Despite warnings from a senior aid official that an assault on Rafah – where about 1.3 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering – would lead to a “bloodbath”, and the UN urging against forced mass displacement, Israel appeared determined to push ahead. “It is impossible to…

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UNRWA staff accused by Israel sacked without evidence, chief admits

UNRWA staff accused by Israel sacked without evidence, chief admits

The Guardian reports: The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said he followed “reverse due process” in sacking nine staff members accused by Israel of being involved in Hamas’s 7 October attacks. Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general, said he did not probe Israel’s claims against the employees before dismissing them and launching an investigation. At a press conference in Jerusalem, Lazzarini was asked if he had looked into whether there was any evidence against the employees and…

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Age isn’t just a number. It’s a profound and growing problem for Biden

Age isn’t just a number. It’s a profound and growing problem for Biden

Politico reports: Special counsel Robert Hur jolted the presidential campaign Thursday with a withering assessment of Joe Biden’s mental acuity, drawing the president’s biggest political liability firmly into the public conversation. While Biden’s age is a major concern for voters in polling, top Democrats have danced around the issue, keeping their concerns mostly private. But Hur’s description of Biden, 81, in an official report as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” may force a new reckoning for the…

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Tucker Carlson — Putin’s useful idiot or his co-conspirator?

Tucker Carlson — Putin’s useful idiot or his co-conspirator?

Oliver Darcy writes: It’s evident now why Vladimir Putin granted an interview to Tucker Carlson. Over the course of the more than two-hour sit-down, the former Fox News host turned online commentator largely refrained from challenging the Russian authoritarian, whose brutal war on Ukraine has led to the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Those expecting a hard-hitting face-off will have surely walked away sorely disappointed by the long-winded and rambling interview, in which Tucker himself at times…

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Climatologist Michael Mann wins defamation case. What this means for scientists

Climatologist Michael Mann wins defamation case. What this means for scientists

Nature reports: US climate scientist Michael Mann has prevailed in a lawsuit that accused two conservative commentators of defamation for challenging his research and comparing him to a convicted child molester. A jury awarded Mann, who is based at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, more than US$1 million in a landmark case that legal observers see as a warning to those who attack scientists working in controversial fields, including climate science and public health. “It’s perfectly legitimate to criticize…

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Israel escalates Rafah bombardment as U.S. warns of a ‘disaster’

Israel escalates Rafah bombardment as U.S. warns of a ‘disaster’

Al Jazeera reports: Israeli forces bombed areas in the southern border city of Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s internally displaced population is sheltering, as the United States warned that a military push into the city could be a “disaster”. Aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if Israel follows through on its threat to enter Rafah, where people are desperate for shelter and one of the last remaining areas of the Gaza Strip into which its troops…

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UNRWA donors suspended funding without seeing any evidence supporting Israel’s claims

UNRWA donors suspended funding without seeing any evidence supporting Israel’s claims

CBC reports: The government of Canada did not see any evidence backing up Israel’s claim that staff employed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) colluded with Hamas before suspending funding to the agency, CBC News has learned. Government sources tell CBC that Israel still has not shared evidence with Canada to substantiate its claim that 12 employees of UNRWA were involved in some capacity in the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas and the affiliated group…

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Israel’s cultural genocide is destroying Gaza’s very memory

Israel’s cultural genocide is destroying Gaza’s very memory

Ahmad Ibsais writes: Growing up in the diaspora, I clung to the stories of Palestine I heard from my parents and grandparents. They gave me the undying belief that Palestinians would one day be free because we are a people rooted in resilience, culture, language, and one another. Part of resisting the 76 years of brutal Israeli occupation is passing on these stories. Some were told by my mother when making dishes like maklouba, which was always served with “Sahtain!,”…

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Palestinian groups accuse UN adviser of failing to warn about potential genocide

Palestinian groups accuse UN adviser of failing to warn about potential genocide

The Guardian reports: Leading Palestinian human rights groups have accused the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide of failing to fulfil her mandate after she issued only one statement on the war in Gaza – largely supportive of Israel – that has claimed 26,000 Palestinian lives. In a statement issued in October, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, a Kenyan, omitted any criticism of Israel. In a letter sent to the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on Wednesday, 16 Palestinian groups,…

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Biden, an ‘elderly man with a poor memory,’ recounts speaking to dead European leaders

Biden, an ‘elderly man with a poor memory,’ recounts speaking to dead European leaders

NBC News reports: President Joe Biden on Wednesday twice referred to the late German chancellor Helmut Kohl instead of former Chancellor Angela Merkel while detailing a 2021 conversation at campaign events. It was the second time this week that Biden had recalled speaking with a European leader who had died years earlier. Biden’s gaffes Wednesday came at a series of fundraisers in New York as he described conversations he said he had with European leaders at a meeting of the…

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To live in peace, Israel will have to finally come to terms with the Palestinians

To live in peace, Israel will have to finally come to terms with the Palestinians

Aluf Benn writes: History suggests there is a chance that progressivism might come back and conservatives might lose influence. After prior major attacks, Israeli public opinion initially shifted to the right but then changed course and accepted territorial compromises in exchange for peace. The Yom Kippur War of 1973 eventually led to peace with Egypt; the first intifada, beginning in 1987, led to the Oslo accords and peace with Jordan; and the second intifada, erupting in 2000, ended with the…

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Saudis to Israel: No ties without recognition of Palestinian state

Saudis to Israel: No ties without recognition of Palestinian state

Reuters reports: Saudi Arabia has told the United States it will not open diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian state is recognised on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Riyadh reiterated its call for permanent members of the U.N. Security Council that have not recognised a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital to do so, a ministry statement said. It was referring to a…

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How likely is China to start a war?

How likely is China to start a war?

Michael Beckley and Hal Brands write: In 1995, more Taiwanese citizens considered themselves exclusively Chinese than Taiwanese, and more favored moving toward unification with China than toward independence. Today, nearly two-thirds of the population considers itself exclusively Taiwanese, versus only 4 percent that identifies as exclusively Chinese. While most Taiwanese support maintaining the status quo for now, 49 percent of the population prefers eventual independence over an indefinite continuation of the status quo (27 percent) or unification (12 percent). Meanwhile,…

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For the first time in two decades, U.S. buys more from Mexico than China

For the first time in two decades, U.S. buys more from Mexico than China

The New York Times reports: In the depths of the pandemic, as global supply chains buckled and the cost of shipping a container from China soared nearly twentyfold, Marco Villarreal spied an opportunity. In 2021, Mr. Villarreal resigned as Caterpillar’s director general in Mexico and began nurturing ties with companies looking to shift manufacturing from China to Mexico. He found a client in Hisun, a Chinese producer of all-terrain vehicles, which hired Mr. Villarreal to establish a $152 million manufacturing…

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