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Category: Politics

A copy of Alex Jones’ cellphone will be turned over to the January 6 committee ‘immediately’

A copy of Alex Jones’ cellphone will be turned over to the January 6 committee ‘immediately’

Vice News reports: After Wednesday’s revelation that an attorney for Alex Jones accidentally turned over a copy of his entire cellphone to the lawyers suing him on behalf of Sandy Hook parents, a couple of things were obvious. The first was that Alex Jones must be turning redder than ever; the second was that the Congressional committee holding hearings on the January 6 insurrection would probably want those records, too. In an emergency hearing this morning, an attorney for the…

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Kansas result suggests 4 out of 5 states would favor abortion rights in similar vote

Kansas result suggests 4 out of 5 states would favor abortion rights in similar vote

The New York Times reports: There was every reason to expect a close election. Instead, Tuesday’s resounding victory for abortion rights supporters in Kansas offered some of the most concrete evidence yet that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has shifted the political landscape. The victory, by a 59-41 margin in a Republican stronghold, suggests Democrats will be the energized party on an issue where Republicans have usually had an enthusiasm advantage. The Kansas vote implies that…

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A Nazi taught interrogation tactics to Syrians and Egyptians

A Nazi taught interrogation tactics to Syrians and Egyptians

“Ziad Khoury” writes: Damascus, 1988. Plainclothes security personnel hover constantly around the main entrance of an elegant residential building. There are whispers that an “important” German fugitive lives on the second floor. As teenagers back then, whenever we got too close to that building, the security officers would order us to disperse, warning that only residents were allowed on the sidewalk. The shutters were always closed, but occasionally, the occupant of that sunless flat would come out for a walk,…

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Surprise climate bill will meet ambitious goal of 40% cut in U.S. emissions, energy models predict

Surprise climate bill will meet ambitious goal of 40% cut in U.S. emissions, energy models predict

Science reports: For climate advocates in the United States, the past month felt like a roller coaster. In early July, negotiations in Congress on clean energy legislation of historic proportions collapsed, and the effort seemed doomed. But backroom talks continued and last week key senators suddenly announced an agreement on a $369 billion bill that would provide the most climate funding ever seen in the United States. “It was the best kept secret, potentially, in Washington history,” says Leah Stokes,…

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Why the defense of abortion in Kansas is so powerful

Why the defense of abortion in Kansas is so powerful

Sarah Smarsh writes: Lines of Kansas voters, resolute in the August sun and 100-degree heat, stretched beyond the doors of polling sites and wrapped around buildings on Tuesday to cast ballots in a primary election. A few suffered heat exhaustion. Firefighters passed out bottles of water. When polls closed at 7 p.m. Central time, many were still in line and legally entitled to get their turn. The Wichita Eagle reported that one Wichita woman cast the final vote at her…

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How abortion rights supporters won in conservative Kansas

How abortion rights supporters won in conservative Kansas

The New York Times reports: Going into Election Day, many observers believed the outcome of the referendum would be determined in increasingly Democratic areas like the Kansas City suburbs — that is, by whether enough voters turned out there to compensate for the very conservative lean of the rest of the state. But abortion opponents did surprisingly poorly even in the reddest places. Consider far western Kansas, a rural region along the Colorado border that votes overwhelmingly Republican. In Hamilton…

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The violent fantasies of Blake Masters

The violent fantasies of Blake Masters

Sam Adler-Bell writes: Blake Masters’s first campaign ad opens with a shot of the Sonoran Desert. A plaintive piano theme tinkles as Mr. Masters, a 35-year-old venture capitalist and, as of early Wednesday morning, the Republican nominee for Senate in Arizona, delivers a monologue in voice-over. “The truth is, we can’t take America for granted,” he says. “And if we want to keep it, we’ve got to fight for it.” The angles are wide, and the focus is deep. The…

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Senate overwhelmingly backs NATO membership for Finland, Sweden

Senate overwhelmingly backs NATO membership for Finland, Sweden

Politico reports: The Senate on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to admit Finland and Sweden to NATO, putting the military alliance on track for a historic expansion in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. With 95 senators voting in favor, the defense treaty heads to President Joe Biden’s desk where he is expected to ratify it in the coming days, making the U.S. the 22nd NATO nation to give its approval. All 30 NATO members are expected to complete the ratification process…

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Pelosi stares down Xi threats, giving China a reality check

Pelosi stares down Xi threats, giving China a reality check

Bloomberg reports: In roughly 24 hours, Chinese officials and propagandists went from warning of a powder keg to pleading for patience as Beijing struggled to articulate a cohesive response to Nancy Pelosi’s landmark trip to Taiwan. Ahead of Pelosi’s visit, the first by a US House speaker in 25 years, President Xi Jinping warned the Biden administration would get “burned” while nationalist Chinese commentators suggested she would “ignite the powder keg.” Yet after Pelosi landed safely, stayed the night in…

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Monkeypox is about to become the next public health failure

Monkeypox is about to become the next public health failure

Scott Gottlieb writes: When about 100 cases of ‌‌monkeypox had been confirmed or suspected in Europe‌ in May, it was clear the virus was spreading outside the areas where it was previously seen‌‌. Some on social media ‌‌suggested it might already be ‌spreading rapidly in communities in Europe and the ‌United States. These reports should have been a code red for federal infectious disease response. But it wasn’t until late June that the C‌enters for Disease Control and Prevention expanded…

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Why I’m leading a congressional delegation to Taiwan

Why I’m leading a congressional delegation to Taiwan

Nancy Pelosi writes: Some 43 years ago, the United States Congress overwhelmingly passed — and President Jimmy Carter signed into law — the Taiwan Relations Act, one of the most important pillars of U.S. foreign policy in the Asia Pacific. The Taiwan Relations Act set out America’s commitment to a democratic Taiwan, providing the framework for an economic and diplomatic relationship that would quickly flourish into a key partnership. It fostered a deep friendship rooted in shared interests and values:…

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Nancy Pelosi just lit a match at the dynamite factory

Nancy Pelosi just lit a match at the dynamite factory

Fred Kaplan writes: As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plane approached the airport in Taipei on Tuesday, Chinese warships and fighter planes squeezed the meridian line—the air-and-sea border dividing the People’s Republic of China from Taiwan—while American aircraft carriers steamed nearby to ward off or meet any threats. It’s impossible to deny that this trip was, at the very least, poorly timed. Several U.S. officials—in the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon, and the intelligence community—had tried, perhaps too delicately,…

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Arizona officials warned that fake electors plan could ‘appear treasonous’

Arizona officials warned that fake electors plan could ‘appear treasonous’

The New York Times reports: Two Arizona Republicans recruited by allies of former President Donald J. Trump to join an effort to keep him in office after he lost the 2020 election grew so concerned about the plan that they told lawyers working on it that they feared their actions could be seen as treason, according to emails reviewed by The New York Times. Kelli Ward, the chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, and Kelly Townsend, a state senator, were…

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First impressions on the execution of Ayman al-Zawahiri

First impressions on the execution of Ayman al-Zawahiri

Spencer Ackerman writes: It is true that Zawahiri, like bin Laden, like his other colleagues in al-Qaeda’s 9/11 era leadership, chose violence and bear inescapable moral responsibility for murdering nearly 3000 of my neighbors here in New York. He used religion as a mechanism to justify violence and beatify the violent—you can find this all through his 2001 book Knights Under The Prophet’s Banner. It’s also worth noting that Biden’s recent abject performance before Mohammed bin Salman, his declaration in…

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Ayman al Zawahiri was observed more keenly by terrorism analysts than by jihadists

Ayman al Zawahiri was observed more keenly by terrorism analysts than by jihadists

Hassan Hassan writes: It says something about the state of jihadism today that more counterterrorism analysts hung on every word uttered by Ayman al Zawahiri than did the terrorists he ostensibly commanded. The killing of the former leader of al Qaeda by a CIA drone attack in a house in Kabul, Afghanistan, is a symbolic victory for President Joe Biden. Zawahiri is said to have played a central role in the planning of the 9/11 attacks and generally to have…

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How the Kremlin is forcing Ukrainians to submit to Russian rule

How the Kremlin is forcing Ukrainians to submit to Russian rule

The New York Times reports: They have handed out Russian passports, cellphone numbers and set-top boxes for watching Russian television. They have replaced Ukrainian currency with the ruble, rerouted the internet through Russian servers and arrested hundreds who have resisted assimilation. In ways big and small, the occupying authorities on territory seized by Moscow’s forces are using fear and indoctrination to compel Ukrainians to adopt a Russian way of life. “We are one people,” blue-white-and-red billboards say. “We are with…

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