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Category: Politics

Rep. Chip Roy introduces MAMDANI Act aimed at deporting, denaturalizing socialist-, communist-affiliated immigrants, noncitizens

Rep. Chip Roy introduces MAMDANI Act aimed at deporting, denaturalizing socialist-, communist-affiliated immigrants, noncitizens

WFAA reports: U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, an Austin-based Republican, introduced new legislation today that, if passed, would allow for the deportation, denaturalization or inadmission of any immigrant or noncitizen found to be affiliated with communism, socialism or Islamic fundamentalism. Named after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the MAMDANI Act would radically change U.S. immigration law. Any noncitizen found to be affiliated with a communist party, a socialist party, the Chinese…

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Worried about U.S. democracy, former NASA astronauts are launching a political nonprofit

Worried about U.S. democracy, former NASA astronauts are launching a political nonprofit

The Wall Street Journal reports: More than 100 former NASA astronauts are trading the flight deck for the political arena, launching a nonpartisan nonprofit that will advocate for constitutional limits and bringing back civic responsibility. Astronauts For America, which includes a mix of Republicans, Democrats and independents, plans to score political candidates and meet with federal policymakers to share concerns about the state of U.S. democracy. The group is independent of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and membership is…

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Clearing Strait of Hormuz of mines could take six months, Pentagon tells Congress

Clearing Strait of Hormuz of mines could take six months, Pentagon tells Congress

The Washington Post reports: It could take six months to fully clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines deployed by the Iranian military, and any such operation is unlikely to be carried out until the U.S. war with Iran ends, the Pentagon has informed Congress — an assessment that means the conflict’s economic impact could extend late into this year or beyond. A senior Defense Department official shared the estimate during a classified briefing Tuesday for members of the House…

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Iran’s military more capable than Trump administration is publicly acknowledging, sources say

Iran’s military more capable than Trump administration is publicly acknowledging, sources say

CBS News reports: The Islamic Republic of Iran maintains more military capabilities than the White House or Pentagon has publicly admitted, according to multiple U.S. officials with knowledge of intelligence on the matter. About half of Iran’s stockpile of ballistic missiles and its associated launch systems were still intact as of the start of the ceasefire in early April, three of the officials told CBS News. Roughly 60% of the naval arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is still…

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DOJ is aligning itself with the KKK and other extremists by indicting the Southern Poverty Law Center

DOJ is aligning itself with the KKK and other extremists by indicting the Southern Poverty Law Center

Joe Patrice writes: Running a confidential informant program inside hate groups is expensive and dangerous work. For about four decades, the Southern Poverty Law Center has done it anyway. Its work contributed to the dismantling of the Ku Klux Klan as a political force. The SPLC’s work is so important that it routinely shared what it learned with the FBI. On Tuesday, the Trump Justice Department indicted them for it. A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama…

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Republican Oversight members divided over whether to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, committee chair says

Republican Oversight members divided over whether to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell, committee chair says

Politico reports: Members on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are divided over whether President Donald Trump should pardon Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in exchange for her cooperation in the panel’s Epstein investigation, Chair James Comer said in an interview Wednesday. Maxwell, who was deposed by the Oversight Committee as the sole convicted accomplice in the Epstein sex trafficking scheme, previously invoked her Fifth Amendment right in declining to answer the panel’s questions. Her lawyer has said…

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Top Trump terror official, Julia Varvaro, exposed on ‘sugar daddy’ site

Top Trump terror official, Julia Varvaro, exposed on ‘sugar daddy’ site

The Daily Beast reports: A Department of Homeland Security deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism has been accused of picking up men on a sugar daddy website. Julia Varvaro, 29, allegedly had a profile on Seeking.com, a site that is often used by young, attractive singles looking for older, wealthier partners to help fund their luxury lifestyles, according to the Daily Mail. The profile, which was under the name “Alessia,” said its owner worked for a government agency and offered “seductive…

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FBI said to have investigated New York Times reporter after article on Patel’s girlfriend

FBI said to have investigated New York Times reporter after article on Patel’s girlfriend

The New York Times reports: The F.B.I. began investigating a New York Times reporter last month after she wrote about the bureau’s director, Kash Patel, using bureau personnel to provide his girlfriend with government security and transportation, according to a person briefed on the matter. Agents interviewed the girlfriend, queried databases for information on the reporter, Elizabeth Williamson, and recommended moving forward to determine whether Ms. Williamson broke federal stalking laws, the person said. Those actions prompted concerns among some…

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Trump extends ceasefire indefinitely as Iran says it won’t join talks until U.S. ends the blockade

Trump extends ceasefire indefinitely as Iran says it won’t join talks until U.S. ends the blockade

The Washington Post reports: President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would extend a ceasefire with Iran hours before it was due to expire, pledging to refrain from attacks until discussions with Tehran “are concluded, one way or the other.” Trump said Iran’s leadership was “seriously fractured” and needed to “come up with a unified proposal.” Trump made the announcement of an indefinite ceasefire as talks scheduled to take place between U.S. and Iranian delegations in the Pakistani capital were…

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Even Trump’s most basic claims about the Iran war can’t be trusted

Even Trump’s most basic claims about the Iran war can’t be trusted

Daniel Dale writes: On Monday morning, President Donald Trump told The New York Post that Vice President JD Vance was already on his way to Pakistan for negotiations with Iran. “They’re heading over now,” the Post quoted Trump as saying. “They’ll be there tonight, [Islamabad] time.” Except that wasn’t true. A bit later on Monday morning, people familiar with Vance’s plans told CNN’s Alayna Treene that the vice president was expected to depart for Pakistan on Tuesday for talks beginning…

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Trump is ‘easily the worst president in U.S. history’

Trump is ‘easily the worst president in U.S. history’

Thomas B. Edsall writes: I asked Donald Kettl, a professor emeritus and former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland and the author of “The Right-Wing Idea Factory: From Traditionalism to Trumpism,” which will be published in May, to assess — without regard to merit — how consequential the Trump presidency will be. On this measure he placed Trump in the Top 5 of American presidents, alongside George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon…

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Sebastian Gorka: The counterterrorism czar without a counterterrorism plan

Sebastian Gorka: The counterterrorism czar without a counterterrorism plan

By Hannah Allam This story was originally published by ProPublica March unfolded like a stress test for U.S. counterterrorism authorities. The month opened with a gunman in an Iranian-flag shirt killing three people at a bar in Texas. Then, an attack with homemade explosives outside the mayor’s mansion in New York City. Next came a deadly shooting March 12 on a Virginia college campus and, the same afternoon, a car-ramming at a Michigan synagogue. Days later, agents arrested a man…

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Escape route from Iran energy shock leads to China, U.S. allies find

Escape route from Iran energy shock leads to China, U.S. allies find

Politico reports: America’s allies, stung by soaring energy costs due to Washington’s attacks on Iran, are confronting an uncomfortable truth: The escape route from fossil fuel shocks leads straight into China’s arms. From the European Union and the United Kingdom to South Korea and the Philippines, numerous countries have responded to the war-driven spike in oil and gas prices with calls to accelerate electrification and the rollout of clean energy infrastructure. While that doesn’t offer an immediate fix to higher…

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China’s energy fortress was built to withstand just this type of oil shock

China’s energy fortress was built to withstand just this type of oil shock

CNN reports: For more than a decade, leader Xi Jinping has overseen a transformation within the Chinese economy with one aim: making it energy-secure. Under that vision, China has unleashed a renewable energy revolution of wind, solar and hydropower, drilled ever deeper into oilfields offshore and on, and forged pacts with partners for more supply – all in a bid to cut the country’s reliance on imported fuel and insulate it against “external shocks.” Now, the historic oil crisis triggered…

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The forces of scarcity hitting Asia may soon spread across the world

The forces of scarcity hitting Asia may soon spread across the world

Damien Cave writes: When the war in Iran started on Feb. 28, Asia expected to see serious, gradual impacts from losing access to a huge portion of the world’s oil and gas. But the conflict’s economic and social impacts have hit the region harder and faster than officials and experts expected. Many countries across the Asia-Pacific are experiencing sudden jolts of disruption that they are struggling to manage, with some comparing the crisis’s breakdowns and scope to the Covid pandemic….

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Distrust, dishonesty and Trump’s elusive Iran deal

Distrust, dishonesty and Trump’s elusive Iran deal

Axios reports: President Trump told reporters to expect a peace deal with Iran by Monday, and said Monday morning that Vice President Vance was heading to Islamabad for talks. But Vance was actually still in Washington, waiting for a signal from Tehran before boarding his plane — a sign of the deep uncertainty over what will happen next. The big picture: Trump wants the war to end, now, on his terms. But there’s only one day left before the ceasefire expires, Iran still controls the…

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