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Category: Politics

A troubling Trump pardon for a drug smuggler linked to the Kushners

A troubling Trump pardon for a drug smuggler linked to the Kushners

The New York Times reports: Even amid the uproar over President Donald J. Trump’s freewheeling use of his pardon powers at the end of his term, one commutation stood out. Jonathan Braun of New York had served just two and a half years of a decade-long sentence for running a massive marijuana ring, when Mr. Trump, at 12:51 a.m. on his last day in office, announced he would be freed. Mr. Braun was, to say the least, an unusual candidate…

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To beat Trump, Nikki Haley is trying to speak to all sides of a fractured GOP

To beat Trump, Nikki Haley is trying to speak to all sides of a fractured GOP

The New York Times reports: To beat former President Donald J. Trump in the coming months, Nikki Haley, his former ambassador to the United Nations, must stitch together a coalition of Republicans: Mr. Trump’s most faithful supporters, voters who like his policies but who have grown weary of him personally, and the smaller but still vocal contingent who abhor him entirely. It’s a challenge that will test what political strategists and those who have observed Ms. Haley’s ascent from her…

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Republicans across the South are on a crusade against LGBTQ+ rights

Republicans across the South are on a crusade against LGBTQ+ rights

The Guardian reports: For five months this year, homosexuality was prohibited in a Tennessee college town. In June, the city council of Murfreesboro enacted an ordinance outlawing “indecent exposure, public indecency, lewd behavior, nudity or sexual conduct”. The rule did not explicitly mention homosexuality, but LGBTQ+ people in the town quickly realized that the ordinance references 21-72 of the city code, which categorizes homosexuality as an act of indecent sexual conduct. The ordinance was essentially a covert ban on LGBTQ+…

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Gaza civilians, bombed by Israel, are being killed at a rate unprecedented in the 21st century

Gaza civilians, bombed by Israel, are being killed at a rate unprecedented in the 21st century

The New York Times reports: Israel has cast the deaths of civilians in the Gaza Strip as a regrettable but unavoidable part of modern conflict, pointing to the heavy human toll from military campaigns the United States itself once waged in Iraq and Syria. But a review of past conflicts and interviews with casualty and weapons experts suggest that Israel’s assault is different. While wartime death tolls will never be exact, experts say that even a conservative reading of the…

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While the world has abandoned Gaza, its doctors have done the opposite. They are our heroes

While the world has abandoned Gaza, its doctors have done the opposite. They are our heroes

Ghada Ageel writes: In the movie Any Given Sunday, Al Pacino plays a highly strung football coach. In a key scene, he gives a speech about how “life is a game of inches” and how when “you add up all those inches that’s gonna make the difference between livin’ and dyin’”. For Pacino, the rousing words are a figure of speech. For the people of Gaza – particularly its doctors, nurses and medical staff – these words are a matter…

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The polls keep getting worse for Biden

The polls keep getting worse for Biden

Politico reports: President Joe Biden’s poll numbers keep getting worse. November started with New York Times/Siena College polls showing Trump ahead in four of the six swing states, but more indicators of Biden’s electoral peril soon followed. The president’s standing in head-to-head matchups with Trump is falling: Among the latest surveys this month from 13 separate pollsters, Biden’s position is worse than their previous polls in all but two of them. And while polls suggest most of the movement comes…

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The secret megadonor behind the MAGA movement’s Washington ‘nerve center’

The secret megadonor behind the MAGA movement’s Washington ‘nerve center’

The Daily Beast reports: In a few short years, the Conservative Partnership Institute has become known in Washington as the “nerve center” of the MAGA movement—an outsized power player in Congress and a hotbed of election denialism. What hasn’t been known, however, is who exactly has underwritten the group’s rise and rapid expansion, as the conservative nonprofit buys up prime real estate on Capitol Hill and turns pricey row houses into outposts for the House Freedom Caucus—until now. It turns…

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‘You made me do it’

‘You made me do it’

Jacqueline Rose writes: In response​ to the destruction of Gaza, it seems to be becoming almost impossible to lament more than one people at a time. When I signed Artists for Palestine’s statement last month, I looked for mention of the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli Jews on 7 October, and then decided to settle for the unambiguous condemnation of ‘every act of violence against civilians and every infringement of international law whoever perpetrates them’. At Independent Jewish Voices,…

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Senior IDF officer dismissed pre-October 7 intel on Hamas invasion as ‘fantasy’

Senior IDF officer dismissed pre-October 7 intel on Hamas invasion as ‘fantasy’

The Times of Israel reports: Soldiers in the IDF’s prestigious 8200 signal intelligence unit reportedly warned senior officers before the October 7 atrocities that Hamas was preparing a highly organized and meticulously planned mass invasion of Israel but were told their concerns were “fantasies.” A senior and experienced non-commissioned officer as well as a junior officer in 8200 alerted senior IDF officers well in advance that a major operation was being planned by Hamas, but their warnings went unheeded, according…

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David Cameron warns Israel over Gaza civilian casualties

David Cameron warns Israel over Gaza civilian casualties

  BBC News reports: Lord Cameron has warned Israel that it will never be secure unless there is “long-term safety, security and stability” for the Palestinian people. In his first full interview as foreign secretary, he welcomed Friday’s pause in the fighting to get hostages out of Gaza and humanitarian aid in. But he told the BBC that civilian casualties in Gaza were too high. He also said that Israeli forces must abide by international humanitarian law. Lord Cameron urged…

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Growing numbers of Chinese migrants are crossing the southern border

Growing numbers of Chinese migrants are crossing the southern border

The New York Times reports: The surge of migrants entering the United States across the southern border increasingly includes people from a surprising place: China. Despite the distances involved and the difficulties of the journey, more than 24,000 Chinese citizens have been apprehended crossing into the United States from Mexico in the past year. That is more than in the preceding 10 years combined, according to government data. They typically fly into Ecuador, where they do not need a visa….

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Could Haley really beat Trump? Big donors are daring to dream

Could Haley really beat Trump? Big donors are daring to dream

The New York Times reports: Late last month, Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, got an unexpected call from Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase. Mr. Dimon said he was impressed by Ms. Haley’s knowledge of policy details and her open-minded approach to complex issues raised in the Republican presidential race, according to a person familiar with what they discussed. Keep it up, he told her. He wasn’t the only business heavyweight to say…

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Biden’s resistance to a ceasefire in Gaza is alienating young voters

Biden’s resistance to a ceasefire in Gaza is alienating young voters

The Washington Post reports: University of Michigan senior Bhavani Iyer, 21, stayed in line to vote until 1 a.m. last November to help reelect Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and vote on a ballot measure to codify the right to abortion in the state. The 21-year-old considers herself a Democrat, but sitting here on the Diag — an open area on the center of campus where students gather between classes and club meetings — she said she doesn’t know if she…

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Pope Francis: ‘this is not war, it is terrorism’

Pope Francis: ‘this is not war, it is terrorism’

The Guardian reports:Pope Francis has faced criticism for allegedly drawing equivalence between Israel and Hamas. During a general audience after meeting with Israeli and Palestinian delegations at the Vatican, the pope reportedly remarked, “They suffer so much, I heard how they both suffer.” This statement referred to testimonies brought by the Israeli group, who shared their experiences of having relatives taken hostage by Hamas during the 7 October attacks, as well as the Palestinians with family members living in the…

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While a fire rages in Gaza, the West Bank smolders

While a fire rages in Gaza, the West Bank smolders

Omar Shakir writes: While global attention is focused on Israel and Gaza, Israeli authorities are tightening their repression in the West Bank and Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians are surging. That repression was already at a peak before the October 7 Hamas-led attack that killed some 1200 people, mostly civilians, in Israel, but it has gotten much worse since. Between January 1 and October 6, Israeli security forces killed more Palestinians in the West Bank – 192, including 40 children…

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The Netherlands underestimated the far right – and Geert Wilders’ victory is the result

The Netherlands underestimated the far right – and Geert Wilders’ victory is the result

Cas Mudde writes: Two things were already clear months before Dutch election day: the Netherlands would have a new prime minister and dozens of new parliamentarians. Forty sitting members of parliament, a quarter of the Tweede Kamer (lower house), and, even more striking, three of the four leaders of the outgoing conservative-led coalition had announced their departure from national politics. Ironically, in this sea of electoral change, it was the far-right mainstay, Geert Wilders, the soon-to-be longest-sitting MP, who would…

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