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Trump belief that 2020 election was stolen is not a defense, DOJ says

Trump belief that 2020 election was stolen is not a defense, DOJ says

The Washington Post reports: Special counsel prosecutors said Monday they plan to show at trial that Donald Trump lied repeatedly about the results of the 2020 election as part of a conspiracy to subvert the legitimate results. But they also said they don’t need to prove whether Trump believed he lost the race. Legal experts have debated the importance of Trump’s state of mind in his federal election subversion case in D.C., with some arguing that to win a conviction…

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A new Silicon Valley manifesto reveals the bleak, dangerous philosophy driving the tech industry

A new Silicon Valley manifesto reveals the bleak, dangerous philosophy driving the tech industry

Alex Wong/Unsplash By Hallam Stevens, James Cook University In 1993, Marc Andreessen was an undergraduate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he also worked at the US-government funded National Center for Supercomputing Applications. With a colleague, the young software engineer authored the Mosaic web browser, which set the standard for cruising the information superhighway in the 1990s. Andreessen went on to cofound Netscape Communications, making a fortune in 1999 when the company was acquired by AOL for US$4.3 billion….

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Criminalizing dissent

Criminalizing dissent

Tesnim Zekeria and Rebecca Crosby write: Sixty-one activists appeared before Fulton County Court yesterday on racketeering charges related to their protest of Atlanta’s new “Public Safety Training Center,” commonly known as Cop City. The arraignment comes after the Georgia Attorney General’s Office alleged, in September, that defendants were “conspiring” to violate the state’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. If convicted, each “Stop Cop City” activist could face up to 20 years in prison — even those who are…

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U.S. supplies Israel with bombs then grieves the devastation they cause

U.S. supplies Israel with bombs then grieves the devastation they cause

The Washington Post: As Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza escalates, the Biden administration finds itself in a precarious position: Administration officials say Israel’s counterattack against Hamas has been too severe, too costly in civilian casualties, and lacking a coherent endgame, but they are unable to exert significant influence on America’s closest ally in the Middle East to change its course. U.S. efforts to get Israel to scale back its counterattack in response to the Oct. 7 killings by Hamas that…

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State Department approves $320 million sale of guided bomb equipment to Israel

State Department approves $320 million sale of guided bomb equipment to Israel

The New York Times reports: The U.S. State Department has approved a $320 million sale to Israel of equipment for kits that turn unguided bombs into more precise, GPS-guided munitions, according to a letter sent by the department to Congress that was obtained by The New York Times. The order comes on top of an earlier one for the same equipment that was valued at almost $403 million. Israel has been using the kits during its bombing campaign in Gaza….

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U.S. diplomats slam Israel policy in leaked memo

U.S. diplomats slam Israel policy in leaked memo

Politico reports: State Department staffers offered a blistering critique of the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in a dissent memo obtained by POLITICO, arguing that, among other things, the U.S. should be willing to publicly criticize the Israelis. The message suggests a growing loss of confidence among U.S. diplomats in President Joe Biden’s approach to the Middle East crisis. It reflects the sentiments of many U.S. diplomats, especially at mid-level and lower ranks, according to conversations with several…

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As Gaza death toll soars, secrecy shrouds Israel’s targeting process

As Gaza death toll soars, secrecy shrouds Israel’s targeting process

The Washington Post reports: The Israeli airstrikes that hit the Jabalya refugee camp on Oct. 31 sent buildings tumbling down on families displaced from across the besieged enclave. More than 110 people were killed, many of them women and children crushed beneath the rubble, doctors said. The Israeli military said the operation achieved its aim. “We were focused on our target,” Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said Monday, referring to Ibrahim Biari, a high-ranking…

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Trump indictments haven’t sunk his campaign, but a conviction might

Trump indictments haven’t sunk his campaign, but a conviction might

The New York Times reports: If the former president is convicted and sentenced — as many of his allies expect him to be in the Jan. 6-related trial held next year in Washington, D.C. — around 6 percent of voters across Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin say they would switch their votes to Mr. Biden. That would be enough, potentially, to decide the election. Kurt Wallach, 62, a registered Republican from Maricopa County in Arizona, said he voted…

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Poll shows Biden support slumping among Michigan Muslims

Poll shows Biden support slumping among Michigan Muslims

NBC News reports: A new survey conducted by one of Joe Biden’s former pollsters shows the president’s support has cratered among Muslim and Arab Democrats in Michigan, a key demographic group that overwhelmingly backed Biden in the swing state in 2020. The poll lends further credence to the warnings Arab and Muslim community leaders in Michigan and beyond have been issuing for weeks: that Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza could cost him a state that he won by…

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Democrats need a 2024 candidate who can win

Democrats need a 2024 candidate who can win

The New York Times reports: President Biden is trailing Donald J. Trump in five of the six most important battleground states one year before the 2024 election, suffering from enormous doubts about his age and deep dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and a host of other issues, new polls by The New York Times and Siena College have found. The results show Mr. Biden losing to Mr. Trump, his likeliest Republican rival, by margins of three to 10…

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Trump plans to impose martial law while rounding up his critics

Trump plans to impose martial law while rounding up his critics

The Washington Post reports: Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations. In private, Trump has told advisers and friends in recent…

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The climate cannot survive another Trump term

The climate cannot survive another Trump term

Michael Mann writes: Back in the home stretch of the 2020 presidential election, I stated that a second Trump term would be “game over for the climate.” That hasn’t changed in the years since. In fact, it’s become even more true. We are three years further down the carbon emissions highway, and the devastating consequences of the 1C (1.8F) warming we have already caused are now apparent in the form of unprecedented dangerous, damaging and deadly extreme weather events. As…

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The West can’t defend international law while also supporting genocide

The West can’t defend international law while also supporting genocide

Oliver Stuenkel writes: The war between Israel and Hamas is bad news for Ukraine. The conflict has already shifted news coverage and public attention in the West away from Russian aggression. It may also force Western exporters to divert portions of their arms supplies from Ukraine to Israel, as the United States is already thought to have done. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned last week of a “long and difficult war ahead,” which could give Russian President Vladimir Putin…

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Bernie Sanders on Gaza: ‘We’ve got to stop the bombing now’

Bernie Sanders on Gaza: ‘We’ve got to stop the bombing now’

Politico reports: Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday the United States should use aid to Israel as leverage to force its government to change its approach. “If you want this money, you got to change your military strategy, Sanders (I-Vt.) said on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked about a possible aid package for Israel to be considered by the Senate. But the two senators who followed Sanders on that program were much more concerned about what Iran might be…

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Fall out: Israel minister suspended after calling nuking Gaza an option

Fall out: Israel minister suspended after calling nuking Gaza an option

Politico reports: Israel’s Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu was suspended indefinitely after he said in an interview that dropping a nuclear bomb on the Gaza Strip was “one of the possibilities,” the government announced on Sunday. “Eliyahu’s statements are not based in reality,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement on X. Israel and its military “are operating in accordance with the highest standards of international law to avoid harming innocents,” the prime minister added. A member of the ultra-nationalist…

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Zelensky invites Trump to Ukraine so he can educate the former president about the reality of the war

Zelensky invites Trump to Ukraine so he can educate the former president about the reality of the war

The Hill reports: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited former President Trump to his country’s war zone, saying the former president “can’t manage this war.” Zelensky, who joined NBC “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker, responded to Trump’s claims that he could end the war with Russia in 24 hours. “Former President Trump said that about 24 hours, that he can manage it and finish the war,” Zelensky said during the interview that airs Sunday. “For me, what can I…

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