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Category: Politics

How Johnson and Biden locked arms on Ukraine

How Johnson and Biden locked arms on Ukraine

Politico reports: Speaker Mike Johnson’s sudden bid to deliver aid to Ukraine came days after fresh intelligence described the U.S. ally at a true make-or-break moment in its war with Russia. It was exactly the kind of dire assessment that President Joe Biden and the White House had spent months privately warning Johnson was inevitable. The House GOP leader is embracing $60.8 billion in assistance to Ukraine in a push to prevent deep losses on the battlefield, amid warnings that…

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Pregnant women are being turned away from emergency rooms with fatal consequences

Pregnant women are being turned away from emergency rooms with fatal consequences

The Associated Press reports: One woman miscarried in the restroom lobby of a Texas emergency room as front desk staff refused to admit her. Another woman learned that her fetus had no heartbeat at a Florida hospital, the day after a security guard turned her away from the facility. And in North Carolina, a woman gave birth in a car after an emergency room couldn’t offer an ultrasound. The baby later died. Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from…

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New York AG says $175 million Trump fraud bond isn’t properly backed, should be voided

New York AG says $175 million Trump fraud bond isn’t properly backed, should be voided

CNBC reports: The New York Attorney General’s office on Friday asked a judge to effectively void a $175 million bond posted by former President Donald Trump to secure a much larger monetary damage award in his civil business fraud case as he appeals the judgment. The AG’s office in a filing said Trump and other defendants in the case had failed to show there is enough identifiable collateral to back the bond for the judgment in Manhattan Supreme Court. The…

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Israel’s recklessness and false sense of impunity is putting U.S. forces in the Middle East at risk

Israel’s recklessness and false sense of impunity is putting U.S. forces in the Middle East at risk

The New York Times reports: Israel was mere moments away from an airstrike on April 1 that killed several senior Iranian commanders at Iran’s embassy complex in Syria when it told the United States what was about to happen. Israel’s closest ally had just been caught off guard. Aides quickly alerted Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser; Jon Finer, the deputy national security adviser; Brett McGurk, Mr. Biden’s Middle East coordinator; and others, who saw that the strike could…

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Iran warns it may revise its ‘nuclear doctrine,’ threatens to hit Israeli nuclear sites

Iran warns it may revise its ‘nuclear doctrine,’ threatens to hit Israeli nuclear sites

The Times of Israel reports: Iran could review its “nuclear doctrine” following Israeli threats to strike the country, a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander said on Thursday, as the world braces for an Israeli response to Tehran’s unprecedented April 13 drone and missile attack on it. Tehran has always insisted its nuclear program was strictly for peaceful purposes, a claim Israel and much of the Western world dismiss. “The threats of the Zionist regime against Iran’s nuclear facilities make…

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Google fires dozens of employees who protested $1.2 billion contract with Israel

Google fires dozens of employees who protested $1.2 billion contract with Israel

HuffPost reports: Google has fired more than two dozen employees who publicly protested against the tech giant’s controversial $1.2 billion cloud computing contract with Israel, as institutions face increased pressure to divest from a government whose U.S.-funded military is in its sixth month of attacking Gaza. The workers held protests on Tuesday at Google’s campuses in New York City and Sunnyvale, California, the latter of which houses the Google Cloud headquarters. Organized by No Tech for Apartheid, the employees participated…

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Three genocides

Three genocides

Eyal Weizman writes: On 11 January​, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, South Africa argued that Israel’s actions in Gaza have been ‘genocidal in character’, since ‘they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.’ Lawyers cited the killing of 23,000 Palestinians (the number is now more than 33,000), the majority of them women and children, the destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure, including schools and hospitals, and…

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A growing contingent of right-wing evangelical Christians view Donald Trump as an actual prophet

A growing contingent of right-wing evangelical Christians view Donald Trump as an actual prophet

Chris Lehmann writes: There’s a new entry in the warm-up material at Trump rallies, sandwiched between the classic-rock anthems and the demagogic diatribes of various local political leaders. It’s a two-minute video that Trump posted to his Truth Social account just prior to the third anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. Called “God Made Trump,” the campaign spot is brazenly messianic in tone and substance alike, directly paraphrasing the “So God Made a Farmer” speech made famous by the conservative…

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What sentencing could look like if Trump is found guilty

What sentencing could look like if Trump is found guilty

Norman L. Eisen writes: To date, Mr. Trump has been unrepentant about the events alleged in this case. There is every reason to believe that will not change even if he is convicted, and lack of remorse is a negative at sentencing. Justice Merchan’s evaluation of Mr. Trump’s history and character may also be informed by the other judgments against him, including Justice Arthur Engoron’s ruling that Mr. Trump engaged in repeated and persistent business fraud, a jury finding that…

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Distraction from the Gaza genocide

Distraction from the Gaza genocide

Tariq Kenney-Shawa writes: Iran’s highly-choreographed attack achieved exactly what it intended, gaining valuable intel on Israeli, American, and regional air defense capabilities, costing Israel and its US benefactors over $1 billion in a single night, proving Israel’s dependency on the US, and further eroding Israel’s image of military invincibility. In doing so, Iran also sent a clear message that its drones and missiles could cause significantly more damage if launched without warning, while still preserving a window for de-escalation. It’s…

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Blinken is sitting on staff recommendations to sanction Israeli military units linked to killings or rapes

Blinken is sitting on staff recommendations to sanction Israeli military units linked to killings or rapes

By Brett Murphy This story was originally published by ProPublica. A special State Department panel recommended months ago that Secretary of State Antony Blinken disqualify multiple Israeli military and police units from receiving U.S. aid after reviewing allegations that they committed serious human rights abuses. But Blinken has failed to act on the proposal in the face of growing international criticism of the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza, according to current and former State Department officials. The incidents under review…

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EU foreign affairs chief: Don’t let Iran distract from Gaza crisis

EU foreign affairs chief: Don’t let Iran distract from Gaza crisis

DPA reports: Iran’s attack on Israel on Saturday mustn’t take attention away from the humanitarian situation in Gaza, the EU’s foreign affairs chief warned on Wednesday. “The latest escalation in the Middle East must not make us forget Gaza. Palestinians have the right to humanitarian aid. Israel must guarantee access & safety for aid workers,” Josep Borrell posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. EU leaders are meeting in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday ostensibly to discuss economic matters, but…

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Why Ukraine is losing the war with Russia

Why Ukraine is losing the war with Russia

Jamie Dettmer reports: Just ask a Ukrainian soldier if he still believes the West will stand by Kyiv “for as long as it takes.” That pledge rings hollow when it’s been four weeks since your artillery unit last had a shell to fire, as one serviceman complained from the front lines. It’s not just that Ukraine’s forces are running out of ammunition. Western delays over sending aid mean the country is dangerously short of something even harder to supply than…

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Texas hacking may be first disruption of U.S. water system by Russia

Texas hacking may be first disruption of U.S. water system by Russia

The Washington Post reports: In January, an alert citizen in Muleshoe, Tex., was driving by a park and noticed that a water tower was overflowing. Authorities soon determined the system that controlled the city’s water supply had been hacked. In two hours, tens of thousands of gallons of water had flowed into the street and drain pipes. The hackers posted a video online of the town’s water-control systems and a nearby town being manipulated, showing how they reset the controls….

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Combatting cannibalism and jailing librarians: Idaho Democrats see opportunity in extreme GOP agenda

Combatting cannibalism and jailing librarians: Idaho Democrats see opportunity in extreme GOP agenda

Politico reports: Democrat Loree Peery knows she’s a long-shot candidate for the Idaho Legislature. But when her state House representative introduced a bill in February expanding an anti-cannibalism law — action prompted by a prank video — Peery decided she had to try to oust the far-right incumbent, Heather Scott. “You can’t win if you don’t run,” Peery said, adding that Scott’s focus on irrelevant issues like cannibalism shows she isn’t a serious lawmaker. “It forces the Republicans to work,…

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