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Category: Politics

How Biden aides are trying to shield the president from protests

How Biden aides are trying to shield the president from protests

NBC News reports: President Joe Biden’s team is increasingly taking extraordinary steps to minimize disruptions from pro-Palestinian protests at his events by making them smaller, withholding their precise locations from the media and the public until he arrives, avoiding college campuses and, in at least one instance, considering hiring a private company to vet attendees. The efforts have resulted in zero disruptions at events the White House or the campaign have organized for Biden in the five weeks since he…

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New York Times union blasts leak investigation over Israel stories

New York Times union blasts leak investigation over Israel stories

The Washington Post reports: The union representing New York Times employees accused the company Friday of targeting employees with Middle Eastern or North African backgrounds in a weeks-long investigation into leaks from its newsroom regarding the paper’s coverage of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. In a letter obtained by The Washington Post, NewsGuild of New York president Susan DeCarava said that managers have singled out particular employees — “targeted for their national origin, ethnicity and race” — who…

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DOJ says ’60-day rule’ doesn’t apply to Trump’s trials — he can be in court during the election

DOJ says ’60-day rule’ doesn’t apply to Trump’s trials — he can be in court during the election

The New Republic reports: Amid an ongoing spar over when Donald Trump’s classified documents case will begin, the Justice Department has clarified once and for all that he cannot continue to delay his legal trials by claiming that he has to focus on the election. On Friday, Judge Eileen Cannon asked about the DOJ’s “60-day rule” against taking actions that might affect an upcoming election. But the DOJ said that the “60-day rule” does not apply to Trump’s actual trials,…

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Colombia suspends all purchases of weapons from Israel and president calls war in Gaza ‘genocide’

Colombia suspends all purchases of weapons from Israel and president calls war in Gaza ‘genocide’

The Associated Press reports: Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro announced Thursday his government is suspending purchases of weapons from Israel after Palestinians say Israeli troops fired at people seeking food in Gaza, marking an escalation of tensions between both countries over the Israel-Hamas war. Describing the deaths as “genocide,” Petro said he blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the violence around the aid convoy. Health officials in Gaza say at least 112 people were killed, bringing the war’s death toll…

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Why is Trump trying to make Ukraine lose?

Why is Trump trying to make Ukraine lose?

Anne Applebaum writes: Nearly half a year has passed since the White House asked Congress for another round of American aid for Ukraine. Since that time, at least three different legislative efforts to provide weapons, ammunition, and support for the Ukrainian army have failed. Kevin McCarthy, the former House speaker, was supposed to make sure that the money was made available. But in the course of trying, he lost his job. The Senate negotiated a border compromise (including measures border…

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Washington state’s largest labor union endorses ‘uncommitted’ over Biden

Washington state’s largest labor union endorses ‘uncommitted’ over Biden

NBC News reports: The biggest labor union in Washington state endorsed voting “uncommitted” in the state’s Democratic presidential primary next month, citing concerns about President Joe Biden’s political strength and his support for Israel’s war in Gaza. The Washington chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers has over 50,000 members, making it the largest chapter of that union in the nation. The deeply Democratic West Coast state holds its primary on March 12. In a statement shared first with…

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In taking up Trump’s immunity claim, Supreme Court bolstered his delay strategy

In taking up Trump’s immunity claim, Supreme Court bolstered his delay strategy

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court that former President Donald J. Trump helped to shape tossed him a legal lifeline on Wednesday night, making a choice that substantially aided his efforts to delay his federal trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. By deciding to take up Mr. Trump’s claim that presidents enjoy almost total immunity from prosecution for any official action while in office — a legal theory rejected by two lower courts and…

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What I learned when I read 887 pages of plans for Trump’s second term

What I learned when I read 887 pages of plans for Trump’s second term

Carlos Lozada writes: Every new administration that wins power away from the opposing party contends that whatever its predecessors did was terrible and that victory constitutes a popular mandate to fix or get rid of it all. Elections have consequences, politicians love to remind us, and a big one entails trying to change everything, right away. It is possible to read “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise” — an 887-page document proposing to remake the executive branch, department by department,…

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The Supreme Court just gave Trump exactly what he wanted

The Supreme Court just gave Trump exactly what he wanted

Mark Joseph Stern writes: The Supreme Court has all but guaranteed that Donald Trump will not face trial for his efforts to subvert the 2020 election before this November’s presidential election. On Wednesday, after more than two weeks’ delay, the court issued an order refusing to lift the stay that’s preventing the Jan. 6 trial, prosecuted by Special Counsel Jack Smith, from moving forward. Instead, the court took up the case, scheduling oral arguments for the week of April 22—nearly…

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Former Rep. Andy Levin and James Zogby from the Arab American Institute discuss Michigan’s ‘uncommitted’

Former Rep. Andy Levin and James Zogby from the Arab American Institute discuss Michigan’s ‘uncommitted’

  President Joe Biden won the Michigan Democratic primary on Tuesday, but over 100,000 voters cast their ballots for “uncommitted” in an organized campaign protesting U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. The major battleground state is home to one of the largest Arab American populations in the country, but the movement to vote “uncommitted” is now expected to spread to other states, including Minnesota and Washington. “I’ve rarely seen such an organic and authentic movement come together,” says former…

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Jan Egeland: People in Gaza are traumatized beyond belief

Jan Egeland: People in Gaza are traumatized beyond belief

“I have never… seen a place… so bombarded for such a long time with such a trapped population without any escape. People are traumatized beyond belief.” Jan @NRC_Egeland of @NRC_Norway is in Gaza for the first time since Oct 7. “I’m pretty shaken, actually, from what I saw.” pic.twitter.com/7MFgRstrJl — Christiane Amanpour (@amanpour) February 27, 2024

Aaron Bushnell’s act of political despair

Aaron Bushnell’s act of political despair

Masha Gessen writes: On Sunday afternoon, Aaron Bushnell, wearing a mustard-colored sweater under his combat fatigues, walked up to the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. As he approached the building, he filmed himself saying, “I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I’m about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but, compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers,…

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Where do Amazon’s profits come from?

Where do Amazon’s profits come from?

Stacy Mitchell writes: If you read the recently unsealed materials from the federal antitrust lawsuit against Amazon, you’ll see why the company wanted to keep them under wraps. According to the unredacted notes from one meeting, Jeff Bezos directed his team to stuff more ads into search results, even if it meant accepting more ads internally categorized as irrelevant to what users were looking for. Other quoted documents reveal the company working to conceal a mysterious price-hiking algorithm, in part…

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A tech billionaire is quietly buying up land in Hawaii. No one knows why

A tech billionaire is quietly buying up land in Hawaii. No one knows why

Dara Kerr reports: A life-size bronze statue of a cowboy sits at the center of Waimea. The cowboy is riding a horse, lasso in hand, pursuing a wild bull. It’s a monument to Ikua Purdy, a hometown hero, who was the first Hawaiian to become a hall-of-fame rodeo roper. This statue is meant to represent the spirit of the place here on Hawaii’s Big Island, which is wholly different from the tourist-laden beaches of Waikiki. Waimea is primarily an agricultural…

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Inside the Democratic rebellion against Biden over the Gaza war

Inside the Democratic rebellion against Biden over the Gaza war

Reuters reports: The depth of Democratic Party anger over President Joe Biden’s handling of the Gaza war has caught his campaign off guard and could depress support in November’s election, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen senior party and campaign officials and five dozen voters and activists. The White House had expected Democratic unrest over Gaza to fade as Biden picked up his campaigning against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, the officials said. Nine months before the…

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