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Category: Politics

The special counsel investigating Trump faces headwinds few others have

The special counsel investigating Trump faces headwinds few others have

The New York Times reports: Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to investigate former President Donald J. Trump, was already working 12-hour days before moving from his home in The Hague to Washington for a new job and an uncertain future. The actions Mr. Smith has taken since he began in November suggest a prosecutor on the move to resolve concurrent investigations into Mr. Trump’s retention of government documents and his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the…

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To defeat Trumpism, stop letting MAGA stunts drive the debate

To defeat Trumpism, stop letting MAGA stunts drive the debate

Greg Sargent writes: When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent planeloads of migrants to Massachusetts in the fall, it received an extraordinary amount of coverage. Though that stunt said nothing about how to fix our immigration system, DeSantis amplified a message nationally that painted asylum seekers as a dangerous, unmanageable threat — and himself as a disciplinarian determined to get the southern border under control. Now, with the focus intensifying on this matter — President Biden is discussing border security with…

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‘General Armageddon’ removed as commander of Ukraine invasion force

‘General Armageddon’ removed as commander of Ukraine invasion force

BBC News reports: President Vladimir Putin has removed Russia’s top commander in Ukraine, just three months after he was installed. Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov will now lead what Mr Putin terms a “special military operation”. Gen Gerasimov replaces Sergei Surovikin who has overseen recent brutal attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The reshuffle comes as Russians claim they are making progress in eastern Ukraine after suffering a series of military defeats in recent months. Russia launched its invasion…

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Iran says face recognition will identify women breaking hijab laws

Iran says face recognition will identify women breaking hijab laws

Wired reports: Last month, a young woman went to work at Sarzamineh Shadi, or Land of Happiness, an indoor amusement park east of Iran’s capital, Tehran. After a photo of her without a hijab circulated on social media, the amusement park was closed, according to multiple accounts in Iranian media. Prosecutors in Tehran have reportedly opened an investigation. Shuttering a business to force compliance with Iran’s strict laws for women’s dress is a familiar tactic to Shaparak Shajarizadeh. She stopped…

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How Senator J.D. Vance positioned himself as a representative of people he despises

How Senator J.D. Vance positioned himself as a representative of people he despises

Meredith McCarroll writes: J.D. Vance, a venture capitalist and author of the runaway bestseller and cultural sensation “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” took a seat in the U.S. Senate on Jan. 3, representing the state of Ohio. What can his rise tell us about America’s relationship with whiteness, the power of narrative and the utility of poverty for a politician? The writer Ta-Nehisi Coates warned: “It is often said that [former President Donald] Trump…

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Divided House approves GOP inquiry into the ‘weaponization’ of government

Divided House approves GOP inquiry into the ‘weaponization’ of government

The New York Times reports: A divided House voted on Tuesday to launch a wide-ranging investigation into federal law enforcement and national security agencies, as Republicans promised to use their new power in Congress to scrutinize what they said was a concerted effort by the government to silence and punish conservatives at all levels, from protesters at school board meetings to former President Donald J. Trump. On a party-line vote of 221-211 with all Democrats opposed, the House approved the…

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McCarthy’s murky deal with the hard right

McCarthy’s murky deal with the hard right

Aaron Blake writes: When House Republicans on Monday night passed the rules that would govern the chamber for the next two years, Speaker Kevin McCarthy hailed the supposed win for transparency. As chair of @RulesReps, @TomColeOK04 is boldly leading the shift from the centralized power of the past and returning to regular order that empowers the American public. Republicans are keeping our commitment to make Congress more open, accountable, and responsive to you. pic.twitter.com/wk4UGgqxuJ — Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) January 10,…

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House Republicans debate George Santos’ fate

House Republicans debate George Santos’ fate

Politico reports: House Republicans know George Santos is a problem. They’re just not sure what to do about him yet. The New York Republican landed on the Hill for his first term last week with a reputation marred by multiple public falsehoods about his past — behavior that conflicts with his party’s vocal campaign pledges to step up accountability and transparency, particularly among government officials. The GOP conference is now deliberating over how to handle a member who’s been publicly…

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Biden and Trump’s classified doc scandals are worlds apart

Biden and Trump’s classified doc scandals are worlds apart

Shan Wu writes: The early facts we know from the discovery of “several classified documents from President Joe Biden’s time as vice president” by Biden’s lawyers while packing up his former office at the Penn Biden Center show very little similarity to the discovery and recovery of hundreds of classified documents found to have been kept by former President Donald Trump at his personal residence in Mar-a-Lago. The immediate and transparent actions by Biden’s lawyers make the likelihood of any…

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Longtime Trump CFO Weisselberg expected to be jailed in New York’s notorious Rikers Island

Longtime Trump CFO Weisselberg expected to be jailed in New York’s notorious Rikers Island

Reuters reports: Allen Weisselberg, a longtime executive for Donald Trump who served as the star prosecution witness in the criminal trial of the former president’s real estate company, was sentenced on Tuesday to five months behind bars for helping engineer a 15-year tax fraud scheme at the Trump Organization. Weisselberg, 75, is expected to be sent to New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail. The Trump Organization’s former chief financial officer pleaded guilty in August, admitting that from 2005 to 2017…

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The pro-Bolsonaro ‘insurrection’ was pathetic – and, for now, has made President Lula stronger

The pro-Bolsonaro ‘insurrection’ was pathetic – and, for now, has made President Lula stronger

Richard Lapper writes: Clad in canary yellow football shirts or draped in the colours of the Brazilian flag, pro-Bolsonaro activists applauded a line of heavily armed police as it marched into their midst in Brasília on Sunday. Hundreds of extreme rightwing followers had been gathering in Brazil’s modernist capital since late on Friday. On Sunday afternoon they breezed past security cordons and trashed the elegant buildings that host the country’s most important democratic institutions – the presidential palace, the supreme…

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How Bolsonaro’s rhetoric — then his silence — stoked Brazil assault

How Bolsonaro’s rhetoric — then his silence — stoked Brazil assault

The Washington Post reports: For more than four years, the most fundamental of questions has loomed over Brazil: Would its young democracy survive the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro? Latin America’s largest country embarked on what amounted to a test of its democratic strength in 2018 when it elected the former army captain who openly lamented the collapse of the country’s military dictatorship, once threatened to reinstall its rule on the first day of his presidency and sought at every turn…

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Kevin McCarthy reveals how the MAGA House will protect Trump

Kevin McCarthy reveals how the MAGA House will protect Trump

Greg Sargent writes: As speaker, McCarthy has already declared that the GOP-controlled House will target the “weaponization of the FBI.” When the FBI executed a lawful search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, Republicans treated it as a historic abuse of power, so there’s little doubt the committee will target criminal investigations into Trump. This will likely entail subpoenas designed to “investigate” the process by which law enforcement sought the Mar-a-Lago search warrant. There will also undoubtedly be subpoenas directed at ongoing…

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White House cooperating after Obama-era docs discovered, attorney says

White House cooperating after Obama-era docs discovered, attorney says

Politico reports: The White House said on Monday that it was cooperating with the Justice Department and the National Archives following the discovery of classified Obama-era documents in a private space at a Biden-connected think tank in November. “Since that discovery, the President’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” said Richard Sauber, special counsel to President Joe…

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Russia’s Wagner group ramping up operations outside of Ukraine, U.S. warns

Russia’s Wagner group ramping up operations outside of Ukraine, U.S. warns

Politico reports: Top U.S. officials are increasingly tracking the movements and efforts of a Russian private military group outside of Ukraine as Moscow continues to use the organization to launch influence operations in Africa and Europe. Last month the Biden administration downgraded classified intelligence saying Russia is relying on the Wagner group in Ukraine to recruit prisoners and launch offensives in the city of Bakhmut. But U.S. officials are also gathering intelligence related to the group’s activities in countries such…

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The irreversible change in Belarus

The irreversible change in Belarus

Anna Nemtsova writes: Every day, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the 40-year-old leader of Belarus’s exiled opposition, tries to rally her camp against the man who, as she says, is “proud of being called ‘the last dictator in Europe,’” Alexander Lukashenko. Every day, he seems to ratchet up his regime’s campaign of repression, which—overshadowed by the war in Ukraine—goes largely unnoticed elsewhere in Europe. For Tsikhanouskaya, the democratic movement’s struggle is also personal. One of the political prisoners in Belarus is her husband,…

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