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Category: Politics

George Soros hands control of his foundation to his 37-year-old son, Alex: ‘I’m more political’

George Soros hands control of his foundation to his 37-year-old son, Alex: ‘I’m more political’

The Wall Street Journal reports: George Soros, the legendary investor, philanthropist and right-wing target, is handing control of his $25 billion empire to a younger son—Alexander Soros, a self-described center-left thinker who grew up self-conscious of the family’s wealth and wasn’t thought to be a potential successor. The 37-year-old, who goes by Alex, said in the first interview since his selection that he was broadening his father’s liberal aims—“We think alike,” the elder Soros said—while embracing some different causes. Those include voting and abortion rights,…

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National security implications of Trump’s indictment: A damage assessment

National security implications of Trump’s indictment: A damage assessment

Tess Bridgeman and Brianna Rosen write: Military plans and capabilities, for example, are some of the most zealously guarded secrets a government can hold, because the compromise of that information can put at serious risk any military operations – and the lives of members of the armed forces – related to those plans or capabilities. It is also important to pay attention to the classification markings on the documents at issue in the 31 Espionage Act counts. These markings reflect…

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Fox News legal analyst, Jonathan Turley, warns that Trump may spend the rest of his life in prison

Fox News legal analyst, Jonathan Turley, warns that Trump may spend the rest of his life in prison

Turley later: "It's really breathtaking. Obviously, this is mishandling, you know, putting classified documents into ballrooms and bathrooms is — it borders on the bizarre. … the visual and audio tape evidence is really daunting" pic.twitter.com/7ElFhW5H7l — Lis Power (@LisPower1) June 9, 2023

Judge Aileen Cannon will continue to handle the Trump document case unless she recuses herself

Judge Aileen Cannon will continue to handle the Trump document case unless she recuses herself

The New York Times reports: The criminal case against President Donald J. Trump over his hoarding of classified documents was randomly assigned to Judge Aileen M. Cannon, a court official for the Southern District of Florida said on Saturday. The chief clerk of the federal court system there, Angela E. Noble, also confirmed that Judge Cannon would continue to oversee the case unless she recused herself. The news of Judge Cannon’s assignment raised eyebrows because of her role in an…

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An estimated 12 million Americans believe violence is justified to restore Trump to power

An estimated 12 million Americans believe violence is justified to restore Trump to power

The Guardian reports: Two and a half years after the January 6 attack on the Capitol, an estimated 12 million American adults, or 4.4% of the adult population, believe violence is justified to restore Donald Trump to the White House. Though the number of adults who believe this has declined since the insurrection, recent survey data from the University of Chicago reveal alarming and dangerous levels of support for political violence and conspiracy theories across the United States. The university’s…

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Oil lobby pushed pollution loophole for wildfire smoke

Oil lobby pushed pollution loophole for wildfire smoke

The Lever reports: Seventy-five million people nationwide have been under air quality alerts, as days of smoke-filled skies sent soot levels soaring more than 10 times beyond what federal regulators consider safe for breathing. But in federal air quality data, it will be as if those days never happened. That’s because a Big Oil-backed exemption in federal environmental law allows states to discount pollution from “exceptional events” beyond their control, including wildfires. And while environmental regulators are considering cracking down…

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Exiled Russians dare to dream of Putin’s fall

Exiled Russians dare to dream of Putin’s fall

The Guardian reports: Is Russia about to experience a period of dramatic political change? If so, can exiled democratic forces unite into a coherent bloc, and is there any way for them to force themselves on to the political scene? Nearly 300 exiled Russian opposition politicians and activists gathered to discuss these questions in the European parliament earlier this week, the congress coming as news broke of the Nova Kakhovka dam destruction, the latest grim episode in Vladimir Putin’s war…

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For Saudi crown prince’s erstwhile critics, ‘money talks’ more loudly than principles

For Saudi crown prince’s erstwhile critics, ‘money talks’ more loudly than principles

The New York Times reports: President Biden vowed during his quest for the White House to make the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, a “pariah” over the killing and dismemberment of a dissident. He threatened the prince again last fall with “consequences” for defying American wishes on oil policy. Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator, called Prince Mohammed, the oil-rich kingdom’s de facto ruler, a “wrecking ball” who could “never be a leader on the world stage.” And Jay Monahan,…

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Judge Aileen Cannon can absolutely sink this federal prosecution of Trump

Judge Aileen Cannon can absolutely sink this federal prosecution of Trump

Mark Joseph Stern writes: Cannon has been assigned to handle at least the initial phases of Trump’s federal indictment in Florida. Her name appeared on the summons sent to the former president, as did Bruce Reinhart’s, the magistrate judge who signed off on the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. (Magistrate judges may conduct preliminary proceedings in a criminal case, like authorizing a warrant, but it’s unlikely that Reinhart will play a major role here.) Typically, federal district court judges are assigned cases…

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National Archives: FAQ concerning Presidential records and the Presidential Records Act

National Archives: FAQ concerning Presidential records and the Presidential Records Act

The National Archives and Records Administration: How much time do outgoing Presidents have to go through their papers to determine what to retain as personal documents?  The Presidential Records Act (PRA) requires the President to separate personal documents from Presidential records before leaving office. 44 U.S.C. 2203(b). The PRA makes clear that, upon the conclusion of the President’s term in office, NARA assumes responsibility for the custody, control, preservation of, and access to the records of a President. 44 U.S.C. 2203(g)(1). The PRA makes…

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An exit from the GOP’s labyrinth of Trump lies

An exit from the GOP’s labyrinth of Trump lies

David Frum writes: It’s as sincere as the grief at a Mafia funeral. Who believes that Governor Ron DeSantis—so badly trailing in the polls behind former President Donald Trump—is genuinely upset by his rival’s federal indictment? Or that Speaker Kevin McCarthy—so disgusted by Trump in private—does not inwardly rejoice to see Trump meet justice? The Fox News talkers have been trying for months to sideline Trump and promote DeSantis. Now they have a turn of events that promises both to…

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‘We need to start killing’: Trump’s far-right supporters are threatening civil war

‘We need to start killing’: Trump’s far-right supporters are threatening civil war

Vice News reports: In what is becoming a now all-too-familiar trend, former President Donald Trump’s far-right supporters have threatened civil war after news broke Thursday that the former president was indicted for allegedly taking classified documents from the White House without permission. “We need to start killing these traitorous fuckstains,” wrote one Trump supporter on The Donald, a rabidly pro-Trump message board that played a key role in planning the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Another user added: “It’s…

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Viral Pentagon explosion hoax took off from pro-Russian accounts

Viral Pentagon explosion hoax took off from pro-Russian accounts

The Washington Post reports: A viral hoax that briefly sent the stock market down last month apparently first gained traction on Twitter through a conspiracy-mongering, pro-Russian account. The picture that grabbed attention on the morning of May 22, captioned “Large Explosion Near the Pentagon,” was generated by artificial intelligence without much sophistication, experts said. But it is probably a harbinger of things to come, especially as generative AI gets better at producing images to meet the demands of anyone’s imagination….

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Past cases persuaded Justice Dept. officials to shift Trump case to Miami

Past cases persuaded Justice Dept. officials to shift Trump case to Miami

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump said Thursday night that he’s been charged by the Justice Department in connection with the discovery that hundreds of classified documents were taken to his Mar-a-Lago home after he left the White House — a seismic event in the nation’s political and legal history. Several Trump advisers confirmed the charges. Trump, who is the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said he has been summoned to appear in federal court in…

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John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh really did just save the Voting Rights Act

John Roberts and Brett Kavanaugh really did just save the Voting Rights Act

Mark Joseph Stern writes: The Supreme Court’s 5–4 decision in Allen v. Milligan on Thursday, which found that Alabama’s congressional map violates the Voting Rights Act’s ban on racial vote dilution, sends two clear messages. First, a bare majority of the court—Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and the three liberals—believes that the VRA still plays a meaningful role in maintaining a multiracial democracy (or is willing to defer to Congress’ judgment on the matter). Second, that same majority of the court does…

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GOP’s booming support for guns is turning off millennial, Gen Z Republicans

GOP’s booming support for guns is turning off millennial, Gen Z Republicans

Politico reports: Young Republicans aren’t clinging to guns like the rest of the GOP. As former President Donald Trump and new campaign entrants, including former Vice President Mike Pence, tout their Second Amendment bonafides and opposition to “gun confiscation” to 2024 primary voters, some Gen Z and millennial Republicans are moving in the opposite direction: A significant share of younger conservatives, reared in an age of mass violence, embrace firearm restrictions. One poll conducted by Harvard’s political institute this spring…

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