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Category: Politics

Racism at heart of U.S. failure to tackle deadly heatwaves, expert warns

Racism at heart of U.S. failure to tackle deadly heatwaves, expert warns

The Guardian reports: Racism is at the heart of the American government’s failure to tackle the growing threat of deadly heatwaves, according to the author of an authoritative new book on the heating planet. Jeff Goodell, an award winning climate journalist, told the Guardian that people of color – including millions of migrant workers who are bearing the brunt of record-breaking temperatures as farmhands, builders and delivery workers – are not guaranteed lifesaving measures like water and shade breaks because…

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Amazon deforestation falls over 60% compared with last July, says Brazilian minister

Amazon deforestation falls over 60% compared with last July, says Brazilian minister

The Guardian reports: Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by at least 60% in July compared to the same month last year, the environment minister, Marina Silva, has told the Guardian. The good news comes ahead of a regional summit that aims to prevent South America’s largest biome from hitting a calamitous tipping point. The exact figure, which is based on the Deter satellite alert system, will be released in the coming days, but independent analysts described the preliminary data…

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Prosecutors may not need to show that Trump knew he had lost the election

Prosecutors may not need to show that Trump knew he had lost the election

Hugo Lowell writes: Included in the indictment last week against Donald Trump for his efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election was a count of obstructing an official proceeding – the attempt to stop the vote certification in Congress on the day his supporters mounted the January 6 Capitol attack. The count is notable, because – based on a review of previous judicial rulings in other cases where the charge has been brought – it may be one where prosecutors…

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Niger’s coup signals trouble

Niger’s coup signals trouble

Amanda Kadlec writes: On the first visit by a U.S. secretary of state to the country earlier this year, Antony Blinken, speaking in the capital of Niamey, hailed Niger as a bastion of democratic stability in a sea of Sahelian chaos. But the internal reality is something quite different. Although their status is much improved over the past 20 years, Nigeriens are among the most economically, educationally and nutritionally deprived populations on the planet. The U.N. ranked Niger the least…

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Putin wants to lead Russians into a civilizational conflict with the West far larger than Ukraine

Putin wants to lead Russians into a civilizational conflict with the West far larger than Ukraine

Roger Cohen writes: Through towering pine forests and untouched meadows, the road to Lake Baikal in southern Siberia winds past cemeteries where bright plastic flowers mark the graves of Russians killed in Ukraine. Far from the Potemkin paradise of Moscow, the war is ever visible. On the eastern shore of the lake, where white-winged gulls plunge into the steel-blue water, Yulia Rolikova, 35, runs an inn that doubles as a children’s summer camp. She is some 3,500 miles from the…

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There is no First Amendment right to overturn an election

There is no First Amendment right to overturn an election

Ian Millhiser writes: Shortly after special counsel Jack Smith unveiled four new criminal charges against former president Donald Trump — all arising out of Trump’s failed efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election — one of Trump’s lawyers revealed one of the legal arguments he plans to use to defend the former president. “This is an attack on free speech and political advocacy,” Trump attorney John Lauro told CNN Tuesday evening. In a separate appearance on Fox News, Lauro claimed that Trump is being prosecuted for…

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Trump says he will seek a recusal, venue change in Jan. 6 case

Trump says he will seek a recusal, venue change in Jan. 6 case

Politico reports: Donald Trump will ask for the federal judge overseeing the case involving his attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential election to recuse herself and will seek a venue change, he wrote in a post on social media Sunday. “There is no way I can get a fair trial with the judge ‘assigned’ to the ridiculous freedom of speech/fair elections case. Everybody knows this, and so does she!,” Trump wrote in all caps on Truth Social. “We will be…

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Russia and China sent large naval patrol near Alaska

Russia and China sent large naval patrol near Alaska

The Wall Street Journal reports: A combined Russian and Chinese naval force patrolled near the coast of Alaska last week in what U.S. experts said appeared to be the largest such flotilla to approach American shores. Eleven Russian and Chinese ships steamed close to the Aleutian Islands, according to U.S. officials. The ships, which never entered U.S. territorial waters and have since left, were shadowed by four U.S. destroyers and P-8 Poseidon aircraft. “It is a historical first,” said Brent…

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RFK Jr’s presidential campaign is just a ‘vanity project’ says JFK’s grandson as Kennedy family backs Biden

RFK Jr’s presidential campaign is just a ‘vanity project’ says JFK’s grandson as Kennedy family backs Biden

The New York Times reports: Jack Schlossberg had enough. The only grandson of President John F. Kennedy, Mr. Schlossberg had been watching the presidential campaign of his cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr. with increasing dismay. To Mr. Schlossberg, the quixotic challenge to President Biden for the Democratic nomination was just a “vanity project” that was tarnishing the legacy of his grandfather and their storied family. Just days earlier last month, his conspiracy-minded cousin had suggested that the Covid-19 virus had…

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Donald Trump is a leading driver of domestic extremism

Donald Trump is a leading driver of domestic extremism

Donell Harvin writes: Federal intelligence and national security agencies — from the FBI to DHS — are in universal agreement that domestic extremism and terrorism is the leading threat to the U.S. homeland. But homeland security officials are also trained to be apolitical, so here’s what they can’t tell you: Donald J. Trump poses a significant threat to homeland security. While generally highly decentralized and fractured, violent extremist groups have begun to mesh over a unifying figure: Trump. The former…

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Feds alert judge to Trump’s ‘If you go after me, I’m coming after you!’ post

Feds alert judge to Trump’s ‘If you go after me, I’m coming after you!’ post

Politico reports: Prosecutors on Friday night called a judge’s attention to a social media post from Donald Trump — issued hours earlier — in which they say the former president appeared to declare that he’s “coming after” those he sees as responsible for the series of formidable legal challenges he is facing. Attorneys from special counsel Jack Smith’s team said the post from Trump “specifically or by implication” referenced those involved in his criminal case for seeking to subvert the…

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Trump’s legal team is enmeshed in a tangle of possible conflicts

Trump’s legal team is enmeshed in a tangle of possible conflicts

The New York Times reports: The potential conflicts confronting the lawyers in Mr. Trump’s prosecutions come from a variety of sources. Some involve situations in which the lawyers could be put in the untenable position of cross-examining a former client in the service of defending a current one. Others stem from bumping up against the guardrails put in place to keep lawyers from advocating for their clients with one hand while possibly incriminating them with the other. Then there is…

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How Jack Smith structured the Trump election indictment to reduce risks

How Jack Smith structured the Trump election indictment to reduce risks

The New York Times reports: In accusing former President Donald J. Trump of conspiring to subvert American democracy, the special counsel, Jack Smith, charged the same story three different ways. The charges are novel applications of criminal laws to unprecedented circumstances, heightening legal risks, but Mr. Smith’s tactic gives him multiple paths in obtaining and upholding a guilty verdict. “Especially in a case like this, you want to have multiple charges that are applicable or provable with the same evidence,…

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How Code Pink became an opponent of human rights in China

How Code Pink became an opponent of human rights in China

The New York Times reports: [Jodie] Evans, 68, was once a Democratic insider who managed the 1992 presidential campaign of the California governor Jerry Brown. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, she reinvented herself as an activist. She became known for pink peace-sign earrings and sit-ins that ended with her arrest. She helped form Code Pink to protest the looming war in Iraq. The group became notorious for disrupting Capitol Hill hearings. Ms. Evans has organized around progressive causes like climate…

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A Republican 2024 climate strategy: more drilling, less clean energy

A Republican 2024 climate strategy: more drilling, less clean energy

The New York Times reports: During a summer of scorching heat that has broken records and forced Americans to confront the reality of climate change, conservatives are laying the groundwork for a 2024 Republican administration that would dismantle efforts to slow global warming. The move is part of a sweeping strategy dubbed Project 2025 that Paul Dans of the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank organizing the effort, has called a “battle plan” for the first 180 days of a…

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Judge warns Trump he will be jailed if he attempts to influence or retaliate against any witnesses

Judge warns Trump he will be jailed if he attempts to influence or retaliate against any witnesses

Politico reports: Trump was sworn in by a courtroom deputy and swore to tell the truth, so help him god. He stated his name and age a bit awkwardly — “Donald J. Trump. John.” “Seven-seven.” He had to confirm that he was not on any medication or drugs that might alter his ability to comprehend the proceedings. Trump spoke few words during his 45 minutes in the room, replying to questions with “yes” or “yes, your honor” in ways that…

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