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Category: Politics

Presidential power to declassify information, explained

Presidential power to declassify information, explained

The New York Times reports: Former President Donald J. Trump’s claim that he had declassified all of the documents that the F.B.I. seized in the search of his Florida home last week — including those marked as top secret — has heightened interest in the scope of a president’s power to declassify information. On Friday, Mr. Trump’s office claimed that when he was president, he had a “standing order” that materials “removed from the Oval Office and taken to the…

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‘It’s madness’: Ukraine holds breath as Putin turns nuclear plant into frontline

‘It’s madness’: Ukraine holds breath as Putin turns nuclear plant into frontline

The Guardian reports: On one side of the Dnieper River is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, visible in the haze. Six nuclear reactors and a cooling tower loom over a Soviet-built reservoir. On the opposite bank is Nikopol, a city in southern Ukraine known for its Cossack past and modern tube and metallurgical factories. The distance between them is seven kilometres. Or, measured in rocket terms, about 15 seconds: the time it takes for a Grad missile fired by Russian…

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China’s demographics spell decline not domination

China’s demographics spell decline not domination

Niall Ferguson writes: Is it only a matter of time before we all admit that the “post-American world” has arrived, and the “Chinese Century” has begun? Should we just throw in the towel and let China have Taiwan? Well, no. Because if you think we’ve got problems, I can assure you that those of America’s principal rival are worse. Much worse. And, unlike our problems, China’s do not have the solution that obviously exists for the US — namely immigration…

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Meet the teenager who helped push Florida toward cleaner energy

Meet the teenager who helped push Florida toward cleaner energy

NPR reports: For most of his 15 years, Levi Draheim led a beachy life on a barrier island on Florida’s east coast, swimming, surfing and sailing in the nearshore waves. He dreamed of someday becoming a marine biologist. But Levi’s world is changing. Warming temperatures led to widespread Sargassum seaweed and harmful algae blooms in the Atlantic Ocean and 156-mile Indian River Lagoon, which together encircle the island. The seaweed and algae blooms have left beaches stinking with rotting seaweed…

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Trump stole and hid classified docs, lied about FBI search, then tried to intimidate AG Garland

Trump stole and hid classified docs, lied about FBI search, then tried to intimidate AG Garland

Quite the buried lede >> Trump tried to intimidate the Attorney General, getting an aide to contact DOJ to send Garland a message: that "the country is on fire"—enraged by the search. Trump disclosed it! The guy is still tampering w/ investigations & obstructing justice! pic.twitter.com/ktgBt8c6TY — 🇺🇦Paula Chertok🗽🇺🇦 (@PaulaChertok) August 13, 2022 The New York Times reports: At least one lawyer for former President Donald J. Trump signed a written statement in June asserting that all material marked as…

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Trump loyalists have reacted to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago with unhinged fury

Trump loyalists have reacted to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago with unhinged fury

Peter Wehner writes: In a sane world, a partisan Republican reaction to the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home on Monday would be something like this: We don’t believe Trump did anything wrong. We’re skeptical about the Department of Justice’s actions, but we’ll wait to see the evidence before we make any sweeping claims or definitive judgments. Unfortunately, the reaction online, in the right-wing media, and even among lawmakers has been far from sane. It’s been unhinged…

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As right-wing rhetoric escalates, so do threats and violence

As right-wing rhetoric escalates, so do threats and violence

The New York Times reports: The armed attack this week on an F.B.I. office in Ohio by a supporter of former President Donald J. Trump who was enraged by the bureau’s search of Mr. Trump’s private residence in Florida was one of the most disturbing episodes of right-wing political violence in recent months. But it was hardly the only one. In the year and a half since a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, threats of political violence and actual attacks…

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What Amnesty got wrong in Ukraine and why I had to resign

What Amnesty got wrong in Ukraine and why I had to resign

Oksana Pokalchuk writes: On Aug. 4, Amnesty International issued a report that accused the Ukrainian army of violating the laws of war by placing military bases close to civilian infrastructure. The report triggered a wave of public outrage worldwide and across Ukraine. For me, the report’s deepest flaw was how it contradicted its main objective: Far from protecting civilians, it further endangered them by giving Russia a justification to continue its indiscriminate attacks. That’s why I resigned as head of…

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Bribery: Sinema took Wall Street money while killing tax on investors

Bribery: Sinema took Wall Street money while killing tax on investors

The Associated Press reports: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Democrat who single-handedly thwarted her party’s longtime goal of raising taxes on wealthy investors, received nearly $1 million over the past year from private equity professionals, hedge fund managers and venture capitalists whose taxes would have increased under the plan. For years, Democrats have promised to raise taxes on such investors, who pay a significantly lower rate on their earnings than ordinary workers. But just as they closed in on that…

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Trump’s storage of classified documents renews questions about transfer of nuclear technology to Saudis

Trump’s storage of classified documents renews questions about transfer of nuclear technology to Saudis

Politico reports: A search warrant newly unsealed on Friday reveals that the FBI is investigating Donald Trump for a potential violation of the Espionage Act and removed classified documents from the former president’s Florida estate earlier this week. A receipt accompanying the search warrant, viewed by POLITICO in advance of its unsealing, shows that Trump possessed documents including a handwritten note; documents marked with “TS/SCI,” which indicates one of the highest levels of government classification; and another item labeled “Info…

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Situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ‘very alarming,’ says nuclear watchdog

Situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant ‘very alarming,’ says nuclear watchdog

Politico reports: The situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has deteriorated rapidly to the point of becoming “very alarming,” the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned at a U.N. Security Council meeting in New York late Thursday. “These military actions near such a large nuclear facility could lead to very serious consequences,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. The plant was shelled on August 5, causing several explosions near the electrical switchboard and a power…

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FBI attacker was prolific contributor to Trump’s Truth Social website

FBI attacker was prolific contributor to Trump’s Truth Social website

The Washington Post reports: In the minutes after an armed man in body armor tried to breach an FBI field office in Cincinnati, an account with the suspect’s name, Ricky Shiffer, posted to former president Donald Trump’s social network, Truth Social: “If you don’t hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I.” The Shiffer account appeared to be one of Truth Social’s most prolific posters, writing 374 messages there in the past eight days — mostly to…

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Democrats finally jettison carbon pricing in favor of tax incentives to counter climate change

Democrats finally jettison carbon pricing in favor of tax incentives to counter climate change

Inside Climate News reports: The nation’s first comprehensive climate law, expected to be sealed with a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday, will not look anything like the program imagined by either climate economists or those in Washington and the environmental movement who had faith in bipartisan action. From the time that the world first agreed to act on climate change 30 years ago at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, environmentalists talked about putting a…

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How the Trump-FBI feud puts swing-state Republicans in a bind

How the Trump-FBI feud puts swing-state Republicans in a bind

Politico reports: As news broke that the FBI had searched Donald Trump’s Florida home, MAGA loyalists and even some of the former president’s potential 2024 rivals rushed to a full-throated defense of the former president. But not every Republican joined the chorus. While the FBI search has given a jolt of energy to the conservative base, the issue is proving to be more complicated in pivotal battleground races that could determine control of the chamber — places where Republicans had…

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Trump’s new lawyer views his new client as a ‘racist’

Trump’s new lawyer views his new client as a ‘racist’

The New York Times reports: Amid a deepening swirl of federal and state investigations, former President Donald J. Trump has hired a high-powered Atlanta lawyer to represent him in an inquiry into election interference in Georgia. The lawyer, Drew Findling, has represented an array of rap stars including Cardi B, Gucci Mane and Migos, and is known by the hashtag #BillionDollarLawyer. But he has not been a fan of Mr. Trump; in one 2018 post on Twitter, after Mr. Trump…

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With feds circling, Trump asks allies: Who’s ‘wearing a wire’?

With feds circling, Trump asks allies: Who’s ‘wearing a wire’?

Rolling Stone reports: Donald Trump is worried he may have a rat — or multiple rats — in his midst. He’s wondering if his phones are tapped, or even if one of his buddies could be “wearing a wire.” As the federal and state investigations into Trump and his orbit swell, so have the former president’s suspicions, according to two sources familiar with the matter and another two people close to the twice-impeached former Oval Office occupant. This summer, Trump…

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