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Category: Politics

A pointed message from one judge to nine others about race and guns

A pointed message from one judge to nine others about race and guns

Ruth Marcus writes: In our judicial system, lower-court judges take instruction from the Supreme Court, not the other way around. In the case of U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, that’s too bad. Walton, appointed to the local court in the District of Columbia by Ronald Reagan and to the federal bench by George W. Bush, has a message for the justices that is appropriate, respectful — and devastating. Messages, actually, delivered in a speech Thursday about the importance of…

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Why a self-described ‘unwavering advocate of abortion rights’ voted for an extreme abortion ban

Why a self-described ‘unwavering advocate of abortion rights’ voted for an extreme abortion ban

Jezebel reports: Imagine campaigning for a Democratic politician—a thankless, low-paying job, especially at the state level—because you believe in what they stand for. The candidate gives powerful speeches about abortion rights that make you proud. You’re in a purple state, where every single seat in the legislature is critical to protecting abortion access. So you join the fight, help them win, and continue working for them in the legislature. Then inexplicably, in the middle of their term, that politician does…

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‘The point is intimidation’: Florida teachers besieged by draconian laws

‘The point is intimidation’: Florida teachers besieged by draconian laws

The Guardian reports: Adam Tritt, a high school English teacher in Palm Bay, Florida, was shocked when his school’s librarian – eager to comply with Florida’s new law restricting “inappropriate” books in schools – removed one-third of the books on his classroom shelves, including a collection of Emily Dickinson’s poetry that was not on her list of approved books. Vivian Taylor, a seventh-grade teacher in Miami, says she was told to hardly discuss Emmett Till – the 14-year-old victim of…

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Russia tried and failed to destroy U.S.-made Patriot system in Ukraine, officials say

Russia tried and failed to destroy U.S.-made Patriot system in Ukraine, officials say

CNN reports: Russia tried to destroy a US-made Patriot air defense system in Ukraine last week with a hypersonic missile, two US officials told CNN. The attack failed, and the Ukrainian military instead intercepted the missile using the Patriot system, the officials said, marking their first known successful Ukrainian use of the advanced air defense system only weeks after it arrived in country. The Ukrainian air defenders fired multiple missiles from the Patriot at different angles to intercept the Russian…

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Turkey election: Opposition dares to dream of Erdogan defeat

Turkey election: Opposition dares to dream of Erdogan defeat

BBC News reports: Turkey’s all-powerful President Erdogan is in the fight of his life against an opposition that has united against him for Sunday’s elections. His main rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, appeared before a throng of supporters on Friday, flanked by allies from across the political spectrum who have come together as never before. As the rain beat down in Ankara, he vowed to restore “peace and democracy”. The man he wants voters to oust after 20 years – Recep Tayyip…

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Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump’s Truth Social

Trust linked to porn-friendly bank could gain a stake in Trump’s Truth Social

The Washington Post reports: An obscure financial entity with connections to a Caribbean-island bank that bills itself as a top payment service for adult entertainment sites would gain a sizable stake in former president Donald Trump’s media company if its merger deal proceeds, according to internal documents a company whistleblower has shared with federal investigators and The Washington Post. Yet the role ES Family Trust would assume in Trump Media and Technology Group has never been officially disclosed to the…

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Live television, for Trump, is both his weapon and his turf

Live television, for Trump, is both his weapon and his turf

Megan Garber writes: In the 1960s, when television was the revolutionary technology reshaping American life, the historian Daniel Boorstin published The Image, his seminal criticism of the media in the age of the screen. In it, Boorstin coined the term pseudo-event to describe the spectacle that exists merely to be documented: the press conference, the news release, the campaign rally. The coinage informs today’s idea of the media event: the thing that occurs primarily so that journalists can tell their…

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Trump supporters are neither underrecognized nor half the country

Trump supporters are neither underrecognized nor half the country

Philip Bump writes: The morning after the channel’s widely pilloried “town hall” with former president Donald Trump, CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht defended the program in a call with staffers. “While we all may have been uncomfortable hearing people clapping, that was also an important part of the story,” Licht said, according to journalist Brian Stelter, adding that Trump’s supporters are “a large swath of America.” On his own show Thursday night, CNN host Anderson Cooper made a similar…

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They helped Trump plan a coup. He wants them back for a second term

They helped Trump plan a coup. He wants them back for a second term

Rolling Stone reports: Jeffrey Clark and Michael Flynn were leading figures in Donald Trump’s efforts to carry out a coup d’etat in 2020 and 2021. The result was mob violence, deaths at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., an array of criminal investigations and lawsuits, and what one former senior Trump aide went on the record to call “the worst day for the Republican Party since Lincoln’s assassination.” In any other era, scandals like that would be enough to send those men off into immediate…

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How Ukrainian forces denied Russia victory in Bakhmut by Victory Day

How Ukrainian forces denied Russia victory in Bakhmut by Victory Day

The Washington Post reports: They started shelling at sunrise. In the dawn haze, under the cover of their own artillery, small groups of Ukrainian soldiers advanced toward a Russian position on the outskirts of the embattled city of Bakhmut. Drone footage had identified an avenue of attack on Russian lines on the outskirts of the besieged city. Intelligence suggested the Russians were so focused on the intense street battles playing out inside they were not expecting an assault in this…

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Is the GOP war on ‘woke finances’ delaying climate action?

Is the GOP war on ‘woke finances’ delaying climate action?

Inside Climate News reports: Republican-led states are asking federal regulators to block the world’s largest investment firm from imposing climate-related financial practices on utilities. While the GOP’s war on so-called “woke finances” has had limited success in stemming the flow of money into clean energy, there’s growing evidence the political pressure could be delaying climate action. On Wednesday, Republican attorneys general from 17 states filed a motion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission asking the agency to stop BlackRock from…

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‘The forever prisoner’: Abu Zubaydah’s drawings expose the CIA’s depraved torture policy

‘The forever prisoner’: Abu Zubaydah’s drawings expose the CIA’s depraved torture policy

The Guardian reports: A detainee held in the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay who was used as a human guinea pig in the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program has produced the most comprehensive and detailed account yet seen of the brutal techniques to which he was subjected. Abu Zubaydah has created a series of 40 drawings that chronicle the torture he endured in a number of CIA dark sites between 2002 and 2006 and at Guantánamo Bay. In the absence of a…

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Trump’s comments on Mar-a-Lago documents ‘like red meat to a prosecutor’

Trump’s comments on Mar-a-Lago documents ‘like red meat to a prosecutor’

NBC News reports: Former President Donald Trump’s comments Wednesday night about his handling of classified documents appeared to contradict statements by his lawyers, and provide potentially important evidence for federal prosecutors investigating whether to charge him with a crime, legal experts say. Trump’s lawyers told Congress last month that the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago compound got there by accident. But when questioned about the issue at a CNN town hall, Trump said he had “every right” to take…

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CNN’s Trump Town Hall was viewed by fewer than 1% of Americans

CNN’s Trump Town Hall was viewed by fewer than 1% of Americans

Just in: CNN’s town hall with Donald Trump averaged 3.1 million total viewers. The event outrated Fox and MSNBC, as expected, but these are not 2015/16 level numbers for Trump — not even close. — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 11, 2023 Wajahat Ali writes: With its Republican presidential town hall on Wednesday, CNN failed journalism, the American public, and its own employees by deciding to invite an arsonist who has spent the past seven years trying to burn down their…

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Manchin attacked EPA’s new rules that could cost him millions

Manchin attacked EPA’s new rules that could cost him millions

Politico reports: When Sen. Joe Manchin upbraided EPA on Wednesday for requiring power plants to reduce their carbon emissions, he didn’t mention that the agency’s rules could threaten his personal income. The West Virginia Democrat vowed to oppose President Joe Biden’s EPA nominees because the agency’s rules being proposed Thursday could push coal- and gas-fired power plants “out of existence,” he said. The risk to one plant, in particular, could jeapordize a lucrative source of money for Manchin. His family…

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New defamation suit against Fox signals continued legal threat

New defamation suit against Fox signals continued legal threat

The New York Times reports: Fox News was hit on Wednesday with another defamation lawsuit, this one from a woman who said the network promoted lies about her that generated serious threats to her safety and harmed her career prospects. The suit was filed on behalf of Nina Jankowicz, the former executive director of a short-lived Department of Homeland Security division assigned with coordinating efforts to monitor and address disinformation threats to national security. Right-wing pundits and politicians falsely portrayed…

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