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The religious landscape is undergoing massive change. It could decide the 2024 election

The religious landscape is undergoing massive change. It could decide the 2024 election

Ryan Burge writes: One of the most significant shifts in American politics and religion just took place over the past decade and it barely got any notice: the share of Americans who associate with religion dropped by 11 points. It’s a development of tremendous impact, one that will ripple across the political landscape at every level — and especially in presidential politics. Why? Because of what it means for the God Gap — the idea that the Republican Party is…

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Georgia prosecutor, Fani Willis, signals August timetable for charges in Trump inquiry

Georgia prosecutor, Fani Willis, signals August timetable for charges in Trump inquiry

The New York Times reports: With security concerns about the looming indictments in such a high-profile investigation weighing on county officials, Ms. Willis said that she would reduce staffing in her office by about 70 percent and rely on remote work on days when grand juries were in session from July 31 to Aug. 18. She said that there would be exceptions to the remote work plan, including “my leadership team” and “all armed investigators.” Ms. Willis noted in the…

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Guardsman Jack Teixeira, Pentagon leak suspect, to remain jailed as he awaits trial

Guardsman Jack Teixeira, Pentagon leak suspect, to remain jailed as he awaits trial

The Associated Press reports: A Massachusetts Air National Guard member charged with leaking highly classified military documents will remain behind bars while he awaits trial, a federal magistrate judge ruled Friday. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy said releasing 21-year-old Jack Teixeira would pose a risk that he would attempt to flee the country or obstruct justice. The judge cited Teixeira’s “fascination with guns,” disturbing online statements and admonitions by Teixeira’s military superiors about his handling of sensitive information before his…

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Assad gets warm reception as Syria welcomed back into Arab League

Assad gets warm reception as Syria welcomed back into Arab League

Al Jazeera reports: Analysts said Syria’s readmission to the 22-member Arab League is a strong signal that al-Assad’s isolation is ending, reflecting an important shift in how regional actors view the reality of his government’s survival, in ways that are at odds with the West. Ibrahim Fraihat from the Doha Institute said al-Assad’s mention of the “Arab identity” was significant. “He emphasisied … the Arab identity of Syria, and linking that to the broader Arab region, which is emphasising that…

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Pentagon accounting error overvalued Ukraine weapons aid by $3 billion

Pentagon accounting error overvalued Ukraine weapons aid by $3 billion

Reuters reports: The Pentagon overestimated the value of the ammunition, missiles and other equipment it sent to Ukraine by around $3 billion, a Senate aide and a defense official said on Thursday, an error that may lead the way for more weapons being sent to Kyiv for its defense against Russian forces. The error was the result of assigning a higher than warranted value on weaponry that was taken from U.S. stocks and then shipped to Ukraine, two senior defense…

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U.S. signals to allies it won’t block their export of F-16 jets to Ukraine

U.S. signals to allies it won’t block their export of F-16 jets to Ukraine

CNN reports: The Biden administration has signaled to European allies in recent weeks that the US would allow them to export F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, sources familiar with the discussions said, as the White House comes under increasing pressure from members of Congress and allies to help Ukraine procure the planes amid intensifying Russian aerial attacks. Administration officials are not aware, however, of any formal requests by any allies to export F-16s, and State Department officials who would normally…

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Trust in Supreme Court fell to lowest point in 50 years after abortion decision, poll shows

Trust in Supreme Court fell to lowest point in 50 years after abortion decision, poll shows

The Associated Press reports: Confidence in the Supreme Court sank to its lowest point in at least 50 years in 2022 in the wake of the Dobbs decision that led to state bans and other restrictions on abortion, a major trends survey shows. The divide between Democrats and Republicans over support for abortion rights also was the largest ever in 2022, according to the General Social Survey. The long-running and widely respected survey conducted by NORC at the University of…

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Mayoral losses deal blow to GOP in conservative strongholds

Mayoral losses deal blow to GOP in conservative strongholds

The Washington Post reports: Republicans suffered surprising losses Tuesday in mayoral races in Jacksonville, Fla., and Colorado Springs, dealing a blow to the GOP in two longtime conservative strongholds and highlighting the limits of waging hyperpartisan campaign battles in local races. In Jacksonville, Florida’s most populous city, Democrat Donna Deegan upset Republican Daniel Davis by about 4 percentage points to win the mayor’s race. Deegan’s victory flips the mayoral seat of the largest city in the United States that was…

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Christiane Amanpour voices dissent over Trump town hall, says she had ‘very robust exchange’ with CNN chief

Christiane Amanpour voices dissent over Trump town hall, says she had ‘very robust exchange’ with CNN chief

Oliver Darcy writes: It has been one week since CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump — and the fierce fallout stemming from the event is still reverberating. While accepting the prestigious Columbia Journalism Award and serving as the school’s 2023 commencement speaker, Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday became the first network anchor to publicly voice dissent with management over the town hall, which has spawned a storm of fierce backlash. Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor, disclosed that she had met with…

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New evidence in special counsel probe undercuts Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified

New evidence in special counsel probe undercuts Trump’s claim documents he took were automatically declassified

CNN reports: The National Archives has informed former president Donald Trump that it is set to hand over to special counsel Jack Smith 16 records which show Trump and his top advisers had knowledge of the correct declassification process while he was president, according to multiple sources. In a May 16 letter obtained by CNN, acting Archivist Debra Steidel Wall writes to Trump, “The 16 records in question all reflect communications involving close presidential advisers, some of them directed to…

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I’ve never seen the Kremlin so rattled

I’ve never seen the Kremlin so rattled

Anna Nemtsova writes: A mysterious drone attack on the Kremlin. A car bombing that wounded a key advocate of the invasion of Ukraine. Four military aircraft shot down in a single day — inside Russia’s borders. If the Ukrainians and their allies wanted to rattle the Russian leadership, it’s working. Never, in more than two decades of covering Vladimir Putin’s regime, have I seen it in such an obvious state of chaos and disarray. These days, Kremlin-watchers don’t have to read tea leaves or…

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Premature calls for Ukraine-Russia talks are dangerous

Premature calls for Ukraine-Russia talks are dangerous

Hein Goemans and Branislav Slantchev write: Russia’s war in Ukraine has been raging for more than a year. And for more than a year, various international leaders—including French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese leader Xi Jinping—not to mention domestic pundits and politicians, have been calling for negotiations to end the bloodshed. Though well-intentioned, these appeals fail to take into account the fundamental nature of war, which requires the fighting to play out before a lasting peace can be a realistic…

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The truth about Russia, Trump and the 2016 election

The truth about Russia, Trump and the 2016 election

Glenn Kessler writes: There have been four major investigations into Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election and the FBI’s handling of the subject — a 2019 report released by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, a 2019 Justice Department inspector general report, a bipartisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee issued in 2020 by a GOP-controlled Senate, and now a 2023 report released by special counsel John Durham. All told, the reports add up to about 2,500 pages of dense prose and sometimes contradictory conclusions. But broad themes…

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Elon Musk at home among the anti-Semites

Elon Musk at home among the anti-Semites

Yair Rosenberg writes: Last night, Elon Musk made two rookie social-media mistakes: He tweeted after 10 p.m., and he echoed paranoid anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists. “George Soros reminds me of Magneto,” he declared, likening the financier to the Marvel supervillain, both of them Jewish Holocaust survivors. In case the meaning was unclear, Musk quickly clarified to another user, “He wants to erode the very fabric of civilization. Soros hates humanity.” Criticizing George Soros is not inherently anti-Semitic. He is one of…

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Democracy suffers when citizens are uninformed

Democracy suffers when citizens are uninformed

A high school student in California holds a sign in protest of her school district’s ban on critical race theory curriculum. Watchara Phomicinda/The Press-Enterprise via Getty Images By Boaz Dvir, Penn State The Florida Department of Education announced on April 10, 2023, that it had rejected 35% of the social studies books publishers submitted for approval and use in the state’s public schools. The move was based on a determination the books contain references to social justice issues “and other…

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Dominion made Tucker Carlson’s firing a condition of settlement with Fox, according to board member

Dominion made Tucker Carlson’s firing a condition of settlement with Fox, according to board member

Variety reports: The mystery surrounding Tucker Carlson’s ouster from the airwaves at Fox News — and his future plans in media — are coming into sharper focus. On April 26, Carlson spoke by phone with one of Fox Corp.’s eight board members, who told the host that his recent benching was a condition of Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the conversation. The unnamed board member told Carlson that the condition does…

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