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Category: Politics

Inside Trump’s demands for a high-profile surrender: ‘It’s kind of a Jesus Christ thing’

Inside Trump’s demands for a high-profile surrender: ‘It’s kind of a Jesus Christ thing’

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump insisted on turning his Tuesday arraignment into a spectacle, and he’s going to get his wish. A law enforcement official tells Rolling Stone that the former president was offered a chance to surrender quietly and be arraigned over Zoom. Instead, Trump opted for a midday, high-profile booking at the Manhattan courthouse, the official says. “He wanted a perp walk, he wanted daylight hours,” says the law enforcement official, who’s involved in aspects of the security…

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Finland to join NATO on Tuesday, Sweden still waiting

Finland to join NATO on Tuesday, Sweden still waiting

Reuters reports: Finland will join NATO on Tuesday, marking the completion of a swift journey into the military alliance for the Nordic nation following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, officials said. Finland has a 1,300-km (810-mile) border with Russia, meaning NATO’s frontier with Russia will roughly double in length, and the move drew a pledge from Moscow that it will beef up its forces in border regions. “Tomorrow we will welcome Finland as the 31st member of NATO making Finland safer…

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The terrifying threat that No Labels will reelect Trump

The terrifying threat that No Labels will reelect Trump

Jonathan Chait writes: One underrated scenario that would enable a right-wing authoritarian like Ron DeSantis or even Donald Trump to win the presidency in 2024 is that the Republican path will be cleared by an organization called No Labels. The semi-inscrutable organization, which is lavishly funded by anonymous donors, is planning a third-party candidacy that would almost certainly peel off enough moderate voters from the Democratic ticket to ensure a Republican victory. Like a far-off meteor heading directly for Earth,…

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The Biden administration barely pretends to care about Syria anymore

The Biden administration barely pretends to care about Syria anymore

Josh Rogin writes: The Biden administration seems to have forgotten about Syria these days. The only moves it has made recently were responses to February’s devastating earthquake or a recent attack on U.S. troops by an apparent Iranian drone. The administration has abdicated diplomatic leadership to Moscow and is turning a blind eye as Gulf states welcome the Assad regime back into the diplomatic fold. Privately, many Biden officials tell me they just don’t see any good U.S. policy options….

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Will Jeff Zients destroy Joe Biden’s presidency?

Will Jeff Zients destroy Joe Biden’s presidency?

Jeet Heer writes: When Jeff Zients took over as White House chief of staff on February 8, 2023, he could be grateful that his predecessor, Ron Klain, left him a smoothly running operation. Under Klain’s watch, the first two years of Biden’s presidency were considerably more successful than anyone could have expected. This was especially true given that Biden faced the headwinds of a turbulent economy, international turmoil from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and a polarized polity at home. Despite…

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Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it

Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive U.S. military sites, despite U.S. efforts to block it

NBC News reports: The Chinese spy balloon that flew across the U.S. was able to gather intelligence from several sensitive American military sites, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to block it from doing so, according to two current senior U.S. officials and one former senior administration official. China was able to control the balloon so it could make multiple passes over some of the sites (at times flying figure-eight formations) and transmit the information it collected back to Beijing in…

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Saudis, other oil giants announce surprise production cuts

Saudis, other oil giants announce surprise production cuts

The Associated Press reports: Saudi Arabia and other major oil producers on Sunday announced surprise cuts totaling up to 1.15 million barrels per day from May until the end of the year, a move that could raise prices worldwide. Higher oil prices would help fill Russian President Vladimir Putin’s coffers as his country wages war on Ukraine and force Americans and others to pay even more at the pump amid worldwide inflation. It was also likely to further strain ties…

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Russian author Mikhail Shishkin’s letter to an unknown Ukrainian

Russian author Mikhail Shishkin’s letter to an unknown Ukrainian

Mikhail Shishkin writes: My dearest one, They stole the language from us. We spoke and corresponded with you in the language of great Russian literature. Now, for the whole world, Russian is the language of those who bomb Ukrainian cities and kill children, the language of war criminals, the language of murderers. They will be tried for crimes against humanity. I would like to believe that all those who prepared and participated in this war, who supported it in one…

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Pro-Russian propagandist killed in blast in St. Petersburg

Pro-Russian propagandist killed in blast in St. Petersburg

Michael Weiss and James Rushton write: An infamous pro-Russian combatant turned propagandist, known by the pseudonym Vladlen Tatarsky, was killed in a St. Petersburg cafe on Sunday, in an explosion that injured at least 25 others, according to the Russian government. Footage captured on a cellphone just before the explosion showed Tatarsky examining a statuette of a miner. Tatarsky was himself formerly a miner, and his Ukrainian hometown is in a region known for its coal mining and heavy industry….

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The rule of law now depends on Republicans

The rule of law now depends on Republicans

David French writes: To fully understand the Trumpist threat to the rule of law, it’s necessary to discuss what the rule of law means. A nation truly governed by the rule of law isn’t going to have a perfect legal system — no human system can be perfect — but it will have a double check against injustice. The rule of law depends on both substance and process, just laws and just processes, and respect for the rule of law…

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Norfolk Southern’s push for profits compromised safety, workers say

Norfolk Southern’s push for profits compromised safety, workers say

The New York Times reports: Norfolk Southern once had so few accidents and injuries that it won the rail industry’s prestigious E.H. Harriman safety award for 23 years in a row until it was retired in 2012. But in the last decade, the company has gone from an industry leader to a laggard. The rate at which its trains are involved in accidents and its workers are injured on the job has soared, putting it at or near the bottom…

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Trump’s legal problems are putting the GOP in a vise

Trump’s legal problems are putting the GOP in a vise

Ronald Brownstein writes: The dilemma for the Republican Party is that Donald Trump’s mounting legal troubles may be simultaneously strengthening him as a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination and weakening him as a potential general-election nominee. In the days leading up to the indictment of the former president, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced two days ago, a succession of polls showed that Trump has significantly increased his lead over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, his closest competitor in…

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Trump lashes out against New York judge who will hear his criminal case

Trump lashes out against New York judge who will hear his criminal case

The Washington Post reports: Former president Donald Trump is quite familiar with New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, the judge who oversaw the grand jury that indicted Trump this week and will preside over the criminal proceedings that follow. Merchan, 60, who has sat on the New York bench since 2009, also presided over the jury trial last year of Trump’s namesake real estate company, which resulted in a conviction in December, and the prosecution of the company’s longtime…

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As Israelis protest mounting authoritarianism, apartheid regime over Palestinians goes unchallenged

As Israelis protest mounting authoritarianism, apartheid regime over Palestinians goes unchallenged

Alice Speri writes: On very clear days, you can follow the rolling hills surrounding the Palestinian city of Yatta all the way to the Dead Sea on one side, the Negev desert on the other. The windswept landscape offers idyllic views, with clusters of olive trees alternating with narrow rows of cultivated land, patches of shrubs, and the occasional grazing sheep. This is also a unique observation point to watch the reality of Israeli apartheid take hold of the land….

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AI can spread climate misinformation ‘much cheaper and faster,’ study warns

AI can spread climate misinformation ‘much cheaper and faster,’ study warns

Inside Climate News reports: A team of researchers is ringing new alarm bells over the potential dangers artificial intelligence poses to the already fraught landscape of online misinformation, including when it comes to spreading conspiracy theories and misleading claims about climate change. NewsGuard, a company that monitors and researches online misinformation, released a study last week that found at least one leading AI developer has failed to implement effective guardrails to prevent users from generating potentially harmful content with its…

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