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Category: Politics

Trump threatened to expose confidential sources from Russia investigation

Trump threatened to expose confidential sources from Russia investigation

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump in the final days of his presidency repeatedly threatened to out government sources involved in the Trump-Russia investigation, an anti-Deep State revenge fantasy he still obsesses over to this day, according to two former senior Trump aides and another person familiar with the matter. One of these sources tells Rolling Stone that in the days after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, the then-president, sometimes while brandishing pieces of paper, would loudly complain that none of…

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How far would a Republican majority go?

How far would a Republican majority go?

Norm Ornstein writes: In 2011, the new House Republican majority, egged on by Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy and led by radical Tea Party rightists such as Jason Chaffetz, brought the U.S. to the brink of a default. The disaster was headed off by a last-minute compromise between Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and President Barack Obama. A breach of the debt ceiling, meaning the loss of the full faith and credit of the United States, would…

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How to direct America toward fascism

How to direct America toward fascism

Jonathan Chait writes: In mid-September, I attended the National Conservatism Conference in Miami, where Republican politicians, right-wing thought leaders, and various party apparatchiks had gathered to articulate their vision of the conservative movement’s future. The National Conservatives are only one faction vying to define the Republican agenda, but in a short period of time, they have sharpened their focus and expanded their influence, and the conference gave them a forum to display the dominant position their ideas have achieved on…

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Leonard Leo pushed the courts right. Now he’s aiming at American society

Leonard Leo pushed the courts right. Now he’s aiming at American society

The New York Times reports: Millions of dollars in television advertisements blasting schools for teaching critical race theory and assailing corporations like BlackRock, Uber and American Airlines for catering to “woke politicians.” A lawsuit pending before the Supreme Court to radically reshape how federal elections are conducted. Complaints against President Biden for violating election law and against school districts that allow information to be withheld from parents about children’s gender identities. These initiatives were advanced in the past year or…

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Trump, was warned of violence on January 6, then sought to stoke it

Trump, was warned of violence on January 6, then sought to stoke it

The Washington Post reports: The probably final public hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to highlight newly obtained Secret Service records showing how President Donald Trump was repeatedly alerted to brewing violence that day, and he still sought to stoke the conflict, according to three people briefed on the records. The committee plans to share in Thursday’s hearing new video footage and internal Secret Service emails that appear to…

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Lawyers group asks NY court to punish an author of Trump fake electors scheme

Lawyers group asks NY court to punish an author of Trump fake electors scheme

The New York Times reports: In the emerging history of how a small group of lawyers aided former President Donald J. Trump’s attempt to stay in power despite losing the 2020 election, Kenneth Chesebro has received far less attention than others like Rudolph W. Giuliani and John Eastman. But documents show that Mr. Chesebro played a central part in developing the idea of having Trump supporters pretend to be electors from states won by Joseph R. Biden Jr., then claiming…

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Baltic nations long warned about Russia. Now, maybe, the West is listening

Baltic nations long warned about Russia. Now, maybe, the West is listening

The Washington Post reports: Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Kyiv’s strongest allies against President Vladimir Putin have been the nations that know his Soviet playbook best: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, all invaded and brutalized by the Soviet Union and historically wary of Russia. Their warnings about Russian aggression and calls for stronger Western action to deter Putin were long brushed aside by many in Europe, even after Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia and the Kremlin’s…

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Protests in Iran spread, including to oil sector, despite regime’s violent crackdown

Protests in Iran spread, including to oil sector, despite regime’s violent crackdown

The New York Times reports: Defying a lethal crackdown in cities across Iran, protesters demanding the ouster of Iran’s Islamic Republic have driven their uprising into a fourth week, with workers from the country’s vital oil sector going on strike this week and activists calling for further work stoppages and protests on Wednesday. Despite efforts by Iran’s security forces, including the feared plainclothes Basij militias, to crush the protests, they have only widened. Some have turned into chaotic street battles,…

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‘Be brave like Ukraine’

‘Be brave like Ukraine’

David Ignatius writes: Many Ukrainians repeated the same defiant message during a two-day visit here last weekend: We’re not afraid of Russian nuclear threats; we’ve suffered too much to make concessions; we want the world’s help in ensuring the defeat of Putin. A wall mural downtown summarized the public mood: “Be brave like Ukraine.” What became clear after several dozen conversations here is that for Ukraine, there’s no middle ground. The resiliency and resolve I heard reminded me of Londoners…

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United States v. Donald Trump

United States v. Donald Trump

Franklin Foer writes: As an appellate judge, Merrick Garland was known for constructing narrow decisions that achieved consensus without creating extraneous controversy. As a government attorney, he was known for his zealous adherence to the letter of the law. As a person, he is a smaller-than-life figure, a dry conversationalist, studious listener, something close to the opposite of a raconteur. As a driver, his friends say, he is maddeningly slow and almost comically fastidious. And as the nation’s chief law-enforcement…

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‘Enough is enough’: Democrats rage at Saudis over oil cut, vow to block weapons sales

‘Enough is enough’: Democrats rage at Saudis over oil cut, vow to block weapons sales

Politico reports: A top Democratic senator is vowing to block all future weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and urging the Biden administration to “immediately freeze all aspects” of U.S. cooperation with the kingdom in response to its decision to cut oil production amid a global energy crisis set off by Russia’s war in Ukraine. The message from Senate Foreign Relations Chair Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who has veto power over foreign arms sales, comes amid the West’s outrage at OPEC+ for…

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Saudi Arabia defied U.S. warnings ahead of OPEC+ production cut

Saudi Arabia defied U.S. warnings ahead of OPEC+ production cut

The Wall Street Journal reports: Days before a major oil-production cut by OPEC and its Russia-led allies, U.S. officials called their counterparts in Saudi Arabia and other big Gulf producers with an urgent appeal—delay the decision for another month, according to people familiar with the talks. The answer: a resounding no. U.S. officials warned Saudi leaders that a cut would be viewed as a clear choice by Riyadh to side with Russia in the Ukraine war and that the move…

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Lawyer went out on a limb for Trump. Now she’s under Justice Dept. scrutiny

Lawyer went out on a limb for Trump. Now she’s under Justice Dept. scrutiny

The New York Times reports: This spring, one of the lawyers representing former President Donald J. Trump made an urgent, high-stakes request to Christina G. Bobb, who had just jumped from a Trump-allied cable network to a job in his political organization. The former president was in the midst of an escalating clash with the Justice Department about documents he had taken with him from the White House at the end of his term. The lawyer, M. Evan Corcoran, met…

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Biden proposal could lead to employee status for gig workers

Biden proposal could lead to employee status for gig workers

The New York Times reports: The Labor Department on Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would make it more likely for millions of janitors, home-care and construction workers and gig drivers to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors. Companies are required to provide certain benefits and protections to employees but not to contractors, such as paying a minimum wage, overtime, a portion of a worker’s Social Security taxes and contributions to unemployment insurance. The proposed rule is essentially a…

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Russia launches missile strikes across Ukraine, hitting mostly civilian targets

Russia launches missile strikes across Ukraine, hitting mostly civilian targets

Michael Weiss and James Rushton report: Ukrainians across the country awoke Monday morning to a barrage of Russian missile and kamikaze drone attacks on civilian infrastructure in cities stretching from Kharkiv in the east to Lviv in the west. Kyiv, for the first time since the Russian invasion began in late February, took the brunt of the assault, with almost all confirmed impact targets being civilian, not military, in nature. According to Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed…

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Russia loses 60% of its seaborne crude oil market in Europe

Russia loses 60% of its seaborne crude oil market in Europe

Bloomberg reports: Russia has lost three-fifths of its seaborne crude sales in Europe since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February. That market is going to vanish almost completely eight weeks from now and the latest sanctions will make it very difficult to divert flows elsewhere. Crude shipments to Europe averaged 630,000 barrels a day in the four weeks to Oct. 7, down from 1.62 million before the invasion. Tankers carrying Russia’s oil are now forced to spend four times…

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