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Category: Politics

Can support for Democrats increase even while Biden’s popularity continues to fall?

Can support for Democrats increase even while Biden’s popularity continues to fall?

Ronald Brownstein writes: To avoid the worst-case scenario in November, Democrats must defy one of the most powerful trends shaping modern congressional elections. Recent polls have provided them a glimmer of optimism that they might do just that. That trend is the tightening correlation between voters’ attitudes toward a president and their support for US House, Senate and even gubernatorial candidates from his party. With President Joe Biden’s approval ratings falling to the lowest levels of his presidency, that traditional…

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Former Saudi official calls Mohammed bin Salman a ‘psychopath,’ says Saudi crown prince fears what he knows

Former Saudi official calls Mohammed bin Salman a ‘psychopath,’ says Saudi crown prince fears what he knows

  60 Minutes reports: Prince Mohammed is 36 and wields unlimited power on behalf of his ailing 86-year-old father, King Salman. The prince is admired by some for allowing women to drive, permitting movie theaters and disbanding the religious police who once assaulted couples for holding hands. Michael Morell: There’s two groups of people in Saudi Arabia. There are those who are very happy with Mohammed bin Salman. The 70% of the population that is under 30. He is not…

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Wars are won by people willing to fight for comrade and cause

Wars are won by people willing to fight for comrade and cause

Scott Atran writes: Even when defeated and annihilated, the heroism and martyrdom of those with the will to fight often become the stuff of legend. Consider the Judeans under Eleazar at Masada, the Alamo defenders under Travis, Bowie and Crockett (note: that these men supported slavery or other unacceptable positions is irrelevant to the point here), or the Group of Personal Friends who fought to the end, defending the Chilean president Salvador Allende against Pinochet’s putschists. Or take the last…

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Merrick Garland should investigate Trump’s 2020 election schemes as a ‘hub and spoke’ conspiracy

Merrick Garland should investigate Trump’s 2020 election schemes as a ‘hub and spoke’ conspiracy

Andrew Weissmann writes: The tenacious work of the Jan. 6 committee has transformed how we think about the Jan. 6 rebellion. It should also transform the Justice Department’s investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Before the hearings, federal agents and prosecutors were performing a classic “bottom up” criminal investigation of the Jan. 6 rioters, which means prosecuting the lowest-ranking members of a conspiracy, flipping people as it proceeds and following the evidence as high as it goes. It…

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Donald Trump’s impeachment lies to Congress

Donald Trump’s impeachment lies to Congress

Bob Bauer and Benjamin Wittes write: In the wake of Cassidy Hutchinson’s extraordinary testimony before the Jan. 6 Select Committee, a number of commentators have been considering how her account will and should affect judgments about the merits of any potential criminal prosecution of the former president. A preliminary question for prosecutors concerns the strength of the evidence of the president’s criminal intent as it affects the application of the relevant statutes, such as obstruction of a congressional proceeding or…

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MAGA preacher Sean Feucht rakes in millions from his Trump-loving flock

MAGA preacher Sean Feucht rakes in millions from his Trump-loving flock

Rolling Stone reports: As the Supreme Court was handing down its decision to end a constitutional right to abortion, worship leader Sean Feucht was on Twitter exalting his twin heroes: “VICTORY IN JESUS!!!!” he declared, soon adding, “THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP!!!!!” But even in this moment of conservative triumph, the 38-year-old praise singer flashed menace, torching, as satanists, the Americans who would soon be protesting Roe’s reversal: “When the devil’s sacrifice is no longer protected by our Supreme Court, watch…

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States with abortion bans risk paying an economic price

States with abortion bans risk paying an economic price

The New York Times reports: As a group of conservative states enacted severe abortion restrictions last year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois sent letters to a handful of corporate executives with close ties to Texas. Mr. Pritzker, a Democrat, urged executives to rethink basing their companies in “a state that strips its residents of their dignity.” Most workers, he wrote, did not want to live under a rigid abortion ban. There was no immediate response to his overture. Companies thriving…

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Uber broke laws, duped police and secretly lobbied governments, leak reveals

Uber broke laws, duped police and secretly lobbied governments, leak reveals

The Guardian reports: A leaked trove of confidential files has revealed the inside story of how the tech giant Uber flouted laws, duped police, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments during its aggressive global expansion. The unprecedented leak to the Guardian of more than 124,000 documents – known as the Uber files – lays bare the ethically questionable practices that fuelled the company’s transformation into one of Silicon Valley’s most famous exports. The leak spans a five-year period…

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Clarence Thomas’s dystopia is becoming our reality

Clarence Thomas’s dystopia is becoming our reality

Corey Robin writes: On Friday, June 24th, Justice Clarence Thomas got something he’s sought his entire adult life: recognition. Writing in support of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, Thomas recommended that the Court, as a next move, strike down a half century’s worth of “demonstrably erroneous” precedents establishing the right to contraception, the right to same-sex sexual conduct, and the right to same-sex marriage. On television and across the Internet, commentators took notice. Insiders have long…

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‘Operation Higher Court’: Inside the religious right’s efforts to entertain and influence Supreme Court justices

‘Operation Higher Court’: Inside the religious right’s efforts to entertain and influence Supreme Court justices

Politico reports: The former leader of a religious right organization said he recruited and coached wealthy volunteers including a prominent Dayton, Ohio, evangelical couple to wine, dine and entertain conservative Supreme Court justices while pushing conservative positions on abortion, homosexuality, gun restrictions and other issues. Rob Schenck, an evangelical minister who headed the Faith and Action group headquartered near the Supreme Court from 1995 to 2018, said he arranged over the years for about 20 couples to fly to Washington…

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Extremists controlling the Supreme Court are the biggest threat to American democracy

Extremists controlling the Supreme Court are the biggest threat to American democracy

George Soros writes: The United States has been a constantly evolving democracy ever since it was founded in 1776, but its survival as a democracy is now gravely endangered. A set of loosely interconnected developments at home and abroad is responsible for this crisis. From abroad, the US is threatened by repressive regimes led by Xi Jinping in China and Vladimir Putin’s Russia who want to impose an autocratic form of government on the world. But the threat to the…

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Does the U.S. deserve and need a younger president?

Does the U.S. deserve and need a younger president?

The New York Times reports: When President Biden leaves Tuesday night for a four-day swing through the Middle East, he will presumably be more rested than he would have been had he followed the original plan. The trip was initially tacked onto another journey last month to Europe, which would have made for an arduous 10-day overseas trek until it became clear to Mr. Biden’s team that such extended travel might be unnecessarily taxing for a 79-year-old president, or “crazy,”…

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Biden defends planned visit to Saudi Arabia as U.S. judge asks whether crown prince should get immunity

Biden defends planned visit to Saudi Arabia as U.S. judge asks whether crown prince should get immunity

Reuters reports: President Joe Biden on Saturday defended his decision to travel to Saudi Arabia saying human rights would be on his agenda as he gave a preview of a trip on which he aims to reset ties with the crown prince, who he previously denounced as a pariah. Biden will hold bilateral talks with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his leadership team, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on his visit to the Middle East next week. The…

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As trust wanes, conspiracy theories rise

As trust wanes, conspiracy theories rise

The Associated Press reports: The global public relations firm Edelman has conducted surveys about public trust for more than two decades, beginning after the 1999 World Trade Organization’s meeting in Seattle was marred by anti-globalization riots. Tonia Reis, director of Edelman’s Trust Barometer surveys, said trust is a precious commodity that’s vital for the economy and government to function. “Trust is absolutely essential to everything in society working well,” Reis said. “It’s one of those things that, like air, people…

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As it runs short of soldiers, Russia launches a ‘stealth mobilization’

As it runs short of soldiers, Russia launches a ‘stealth mobilization’

The New York Times reports: Four Russian veterans of the war in Ukraine recently published short videos online to complain about what they called their shabby treatment after returning to the Russian region of Chechnya, after six weeks on the battlefield. One claimed to have been denied a promised payment of nearly $2,000. Another grumbled that a local hospital declined to remove shrapnel lodged in his body. Their public pleas for help got results, but not the kind they were…

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Christian fascists on a crusade to take over America

Christian fascists on a crusade to take over America

The New York Times reports: Three weeks before he won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano stood beside a three-foot-tall painted eagle statue and declared the power of God. “Any free people in the house here? Did Jesus set you free?” he asked, revving up the dozens before him on a Saturday afternoon at a Gettysburg roadside hotel. Mr. Mastriano, a state senator, retired Army colonel and prominent figure in former President Donald J. Trump’s futile efforts to…

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