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Category: Politics

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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Giuliani accused of offering to sell Trump pardons for $2 million each in new lawsuit

Giuliani accused of offering to sell Trump pardons for $2 million each in new lawsuit

NBC News reports: A woman who said she worked for Rudy Giuliani during the last two years of the Trump administration alleged in a wide-ranging lawsuit that Giuliani, the former president’s personal attorney, discussed selling presidential pardons and detailed plans to overturn the 2020 election results. In a 70-page complaint filed in state court in New York on Monday, Noelle Dunphy said that after Giuliani hired her in January 2019 he sexually assaulted and harassed her, refused to pay her…

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Twitter’s chief troll slanders George Soros with antisemitic slurs

Twitter’s chief troll slanders George Soros with antisemitic slurs

The Washington Post reports: Elon Musk made a series of attacks on George Soros overnight, tweeting that the Jewish-born investor and liberal philanthropist, who often is subject to virulent antisemitic conspiracy theories, hates humanity and “wants to erode the very fabric of civilization.” Musk, who has overseen an increase of antisemitism and other hate speech on Twitter since he bought the social media platform last year, did not give a reason for singling out Soros. But he made his comments…

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UK and Netherlands agree ‘international coalition’ to help Ukraine procure F-16 jets

UK and Netherlands agree ‘international coalition’ to help Ukraine procure F-16 jets

The Guardian reports: Prime minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch leader Mark Rutte have agreed to build an “international coalition” to help procure F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine, the British government has announced. A Downing Street spokesperson said Sunak and Rutte “would work to build an international coalition to provide Ukraine with combat air capabilities, supporting with everything from training to procuring F-16 jets”. “The prime minister reiterated his belief that Ukraine’s rightful place is in Nato and the leaders agreed…

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Humiliation for Putin’s ‘unstoppable’ superweapons blasted out of sky by U.S. defense system

Humiliation for Putin’s ‘unstoppable’ superweapons blasted out of sky by U.S. defense system

The Daily Beast reports: Russian officials must be reeling in utter disbelief after Ukraine claimed six of their most sophisticated missiles were blasted out of the sky in an incredible night of drama over Kyiv. When Ukraine’s Defense Express outlet reported that just one Kh-47 “Dagger” missile had been shot down with a U.S.-made Patriot air defense system earlier this month, it prompted fury in Russia. On Saturday, U.S. officials told CNN that the Russian missile attack on May 5 was targeting the Patriot itself. Russian officials called the interception “wishful thinking”—even as…

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The end of Ukraine aid is rapidly approaching. Reupping it won’t be easy

The end of Ukraine aid is rapidly approaching. Reupping it won’t be easy

Politico reports: Move over, Treasury. You’re not the only one with an X-date. The $48 billion Ukraine aid package that Congress approved in December has about $6 billion left, meaning U.S. funding for weapons and supplies could dry up by midsummer. That’s raising fresh concerns among lawmakers about what the White House is planning next, including when the administration will ask for another major package and whether it will be enough. The funding, many members say, needs to continue to…

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Imran Khan accuses Pakistan’s military of ordering his arrest

Imran Khan accuses Pakistan’s military of ordering his arrest

The Guardian reports: Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has escalated his criticism of the country’s powerful military, accusing the head of the army of harbouring a “personal grudge” against him and ordering his arrest and a crackdown on his party. “It is personal. It’s got nothing to do with national interest,” Khan told the Guardian in an interview at his home in Lahore, after a dramatic week in which he was arrested at Islamabad’s high court by almost 100…

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UN commemorates Palestinian Nakba for first time on 75th anniversary

UN commemorates Palestinian Nakba for first time on 75th anniversary

The National reports: For the first time in 75 years, the UN has officially commemorated the Nakba — the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were forced to leave their homes upon the formation of Israel. The UN passed a historic resolution in 2022, despite Israel’s vehement opposition, to recognise the Nakba, which roughly translates as “catastrophe”. The day brings painful memories of displacement and widely documented reports of torture and mass killings by Israeli forces against Palestinians…

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The paranoia that fuels gun-buying

The paranoia that fuels gun-buying

Christine Emba writes: At the Nation’s Gun Show in Chantilly, spirits seemed high. People wandered from booth to booth, and the scent of popcorn filled the air. It could have been mistaken for a state fair or weekend flea market were it not for the rows of weapons and accessories — gun parts, AR build kits and body armor — laid out on every surface. It was easy to overlook the one common emotion underlying the event: fear. Here were…

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Prosecutor ends probe of FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges

Prosecutor ends probe of FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation with harsh criticism, but no new charges

The New York Times reports: John Durham, the Trump-era special counsel who for four years has pursued a politically fraught investigation into the Russia inquiry, accused the F.B.I. of having “discounted or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia” in a final report made public on Monday. Mr. Durham’s 306-page report revealed little substantial new information about the inquiry, known as Crossfire Hurricane, and it failed to produce the…

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Rep. James Comer is looking for anti-Biden evidence. Also, his informant

Rep. James Comer is looking for anti-Biden evidence. Also, his informant

Philip Bump writes: Soon after the 2020 election, a senior vice president at the Fox Business Network sent a warning to the network’s president that neatly distilled the recent trajectory of host Maria Bartiromo’s career. Bartiromo, he said, has “GOP conspiracy theorists in her ear and they use her for their message sometimes.” On Sunday, Bartiromo lived up to that reputation. To introduce her show on Fox News, she promised viewers that she would be covering “the most serious allegations…

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Wagner chief offered to give Russian troop locations to Ukraine, leak says

Wagner chief offered to give Russian troop locations to Ukraine, leak says

The Washington Post reports: In late January, with his mercenary forces dying by the thousands in a fight for the ruined city of Bakhmut, Wagner Group owner Yevgeniy Prigozhin made Ukraine an extraordinary offer. Prigozhin said that if Ukraine’s commanders withdrew their soldiers from the area around Bakhmut, he would give Kyiv information on Russian troop positions, which Ukraine could use to attack them. Prigozhin conveyed the proposal to his contacts in Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, with whom he has…

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Zelensky, in private, plots bold attacks inside Russia, leak shows

Zelensky, in private, plots bold attacks inside Russia, leak shows

The Washington Post reports: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has won the trust of Western governments by refusing to use the weapons they provide for attacks inside Russia and prioritizing the targeting of Russian forces inside Ukraine’s borders. But behind closed doors, Ukraine’s leader has proposed going in a more audacious direction — occupying Russian villages to gain leverage over Moscow, bombing a pipeline that transfers Russian oil to Hungary, a NATO member, and privately pining for long-range missiles to hit…

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