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Category: Politics

Ron DeSantis leans hard into homophobia

Ron DeSantis leans hard into homophobia

Prem Thakker writes: Over the weekend, Ron DeSantis’s rapid response team shared a video railing against twice-impeached and twice-indicted former President Donald Trump for previous expressions of support for the LGBTQ community, proudly contrasting it with DeSantis’s outward crusade against America’s LGBTQ population. To wrap up “Pride Month,” let’s hear from the politician who did more than any other Republican to celebrate it… pic.twitter.com/FT7LdW4vls — DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) June 30, 2023 The video begins by focusing on Trump’s…

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As France burns, the far right rises

As France burns, the far right rises

David A. Bell writes: What the street barricade was to France in the 19th century, the burning car has become in the 21st: a preferred means of violent protest, and a key theatrical symbol of political defiance. In 2005, after two boys named Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré died while running from police, rioters burned close to 9,000 cars across France in unrest that ultimately led President Jacques Chirac to declare a state of emergency. This year, after an officer…

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Israel attacks Jenin in biggest West Bank incursion in 20 years

Israel attacks Jenin in biggest West Bank incursion in 20 years

The Guardian reports: Israel has launched a major aerial and ground offensive into the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, its biggest military operation in the Palestinian territory in years, in what it described as an “extensive counter-terrorism effort”. At least eight Palestinians were killed and 50 injured, 10 seriously, in the attack that began at about 1am on Monday, and the death toll is likely to rise, according to the Palestinian health ministry. On Monday afternoon, Israeli sources suggested…

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Lessons for the next Arab Spring

Lessons for the next Arab Spring

Shadi Hamid writes: On July 3, 2013, the Arab Spring ended. A military coup ousted the democratically elected government of Mohamed Morsi, the Egyptian president who was a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood. Today, a decade later, the role the United States played in the events leading up to the coup, and the coup itself, is still contentious. Brotherhood supporters blame the Obama administration for its unwillingness to stop the coup or even to call it one. Coup supporters, meanwhile,…

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How Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing set the stage for the unraveling of affirmative action today

How Clarence Thomas’ confirmation hearing set the stage for the unraveling of affirmative action today

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw writes: In October 1991, I was part of the legal team that supported Anita Hill in her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in which she bravely alleged sexual harassment at the hands of now-Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. His confirmation by that committee, chaired by then-Democratic Sen. Joe Biden, was one of the most consequential moments in setting the future trajectory of the ideals that matter most to me — civil rights, gender equity and our…

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Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s bold debut and independent streak

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s bold debut and independent streak

The Washington Post reports: In a rare public speech this spring, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson talked to law school graduates about the challenges of starting a new job and about her love of musical theater. One of her favorites, she said, is the smash hit “Hamilton.” A particular song resonates: “History Has Its Eyes on You.” “Given my own experience over the past year, I think it’s pretty obvious why,” she told the crowd at Boston University School of…

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In small victory, signs of grueling combat ahead in Ukrainian counteroffensive

In small victory, signs of grueling combat ahead in Ukrainian counteroffensive

The New York Times reports: The Ukrainian soldiers thought the Russians would quickly retreat from Neskuchne, a tiny village in southern Ukraine, especially after a concerted artillery barrage and a rocket strike on their headquarters. Instead, the Russians dug in, fighting for two days before giving up the village last month, leaving their dead decaying on the roadside and piles of expended ammunition around their makeshift defenses. The Russian defeat, on June 9, was Ukraine’s first win in a prolonged…

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‘Yevgeny Prigozhin will never be discussed again’: Russian media to erase all traces of mutinous warlord

‘Yevgeny Prigozhin will never be discussed again’: Russian media to erase all traces of mutinous warlord

The Observer reports: Suddenly, Yevgeny Prigozhin is a phantom. Is he in Belarus or St Petersburg? In unconfirmed footage that makes him look like a Bond villain, he struts across a rooftop, shadowed by a muscled bodyguard, takes a seat in a helicopter, and vanishes into the skies of St Petersburg. For nearly a decade, Prigozhin has sown scandal in Russia, creating a troll factory empire, leading Russia’s interference into foreign elections and bankrolling the Wagner mercenary group that fought…

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Half the police force quit. Crime dropped

Half the police force quit. Crime dropped

Radley Balko writes: In a staggering report last month, the Department of Justice documented pervasive abuse, illegal use of force, racial bias and systemic dysfunction in the Minneapolis Police Department. City police officers engaged in brutality or made racist comments, even as a department investigator rode along in a patrol car. Complaints about police abuse were often slow-walked or dismissed without investigation. And after George Floyd’s death, instead of ending the policy of racial profiling, the police just buried the…

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How Putin cannibalizes Russian economy to survive personally

How Putin cannibalizes Russian economy to survive personally

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld and Steven Tian write: Nearly 18 months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine now, amidst last week’s failed coup attempt, battlefield setbacks, and global diplomatic condemnation, Putin is coming under increasing strain to finance his increasingly-expensive war—and there’s a history lesson for how this will all end. Far from the prevailing narrative on how Putin funds his invasion, Putin’s financial lifeline has [been] his merciless cannibalization of Russian economic productivity. He has been burning the living room furniture to fuel his battles…

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CIA director, on secret trip to Ukraine, hears plan for war’s endgame

CIA director, on secret trip to Ukraine, hears plan for war’s endgame

The Washington Post reports: During a secret visit to Ukraine by CIA Director William J. Burns earlier this month, Ukrainian officials revealed an ambitious strategy to retake Russian-occupied territory and open cease-fire negotiations with Moscow by the end of the year, according to officials familiar with the visit. The trip by Burns, which has not been previously reported, included meetings with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine’s top intelligence officials. It came at a critical moment in the conflict as Ukrainian…

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Trump pressured Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn 2020 election

Trump pressured Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to overturn 2020 election

The Washington Post reports: In a phone call in late 2020, President Donald Trump tried to pressure Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to overturn the state’s presidential election results, saying that if enough fraudulent votes could be found it would overcome Trump’s narrow loss in Arizona, according to three people familiar with the call. Trump also repeatedly asked Vice President Mike Pence to call Ducey and prod him to find the evidence to substantiate Trump’s claims of fraud, according to…

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White House cautiously opens the door to study geoengineering to slow global warming

White House cautiously opens the door to study geoengineering to slow global warming

Politico reports: The White House offered measured support for the idea of studying how to block sunlight from hitting Earth’s surface as a way to limit global warming, in a congressionally mandated report that could help bring efforts once confined to science fiction into the realm of legitimate debate. The controversial concept known as solar radiation modification is a potentially effective response to fighting climate change, but one that could have unknown side effects stemming from altering the chemical makeup…

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Everyone knew the migrant ship was doomed. No one helped

Everyone knew the migrant ship was doomed. No one helped

The New York Times reports: From air and by sea, using radar, telephone and radio, officials watched and listened for 13 hours as the migrant ship Adriana lost power, then drifted aimlessly off the coast of Greece in a slowly unfolding humanitarian disaster. As terrified passengers telephoned for help, humanitarian workers assured them that a rescue team was coming. European border officials, watching aerial footage, prepared to witness what was certain to be a heroic operation. Yet the Adriana capsized…

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Homophobic businesses in the U.S. have a powerful ally: the Supreme Court

Homophobic businesses in the U.S. have a powerful ally: the Supreme Court

Moira Donegan writes: On Friday the US supreme court expanded the right to free speech into a right of businesses to discriminate. In a 6-3 decision, with the majority opinion by Neil Gorsuch, the justices declared that a Colorado civil rights statute prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in public businesses violates the first amendment’s freedom of speech. The ruling appears to formalize the right of homophobic business owners to not serve gay people in some situations. 303…

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The Supreme Court will decide if abusive spouses have a right to own guns

The Supreme Court will decide if abusive spouses have a right to own guns

Ian Millhiser writes: Last February, the far-right United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a federal law prohibiting individuals from “possessing a firearm while under a domestic violence restraining order” is unconstitutional. On Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear this case. It is fairly likely that the justices will reverse the Fifth Circuit’s extraordinary decision — as many as six current members of the Court have signaled that, while some of them support an expansive…

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