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Category: Politics

At NRA convention, conspiracy theories abound among gun owners who see themselves as victims

At NRA convention, conspiracy theories abound among gun owners who see themselves as victims

Politico reports: The protesters who raised their middle fingers and shouted “shame” outside the National Rifle Association’s big gathering here on Friday had assumed — like much of official Washington — that the timing of a school shooting three days earlier might somehow be problematic for the NRA. For gun enthusiasts and the Republican politicians courting them, it was only more reason to come. Here, amid acres of guns and tactical gear inside a cavernous convention hall, the proximate cause…

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Ukraine pleads for weapons as Russian onslaught threatens to turn the tide

Ukraine pleads for weapons as Russian onslaught threatens to turn the tide

The Observer reports: Ukraine is in a race against time to save the eastern Donbas region as relentless Russian artillery and air strikes threaten to turn the tide of the war, and support for Kyiv’s continued defiance among some west European allies appears to be slipping. Ukrainian officials say they urgently need advanced US-made mobile multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to halt Russian advances in Luhansk and Donetsk. The rockets would be capable of striking Russian firing positions, military bases,…

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The Supreme Court just okayed Biden’s ‘social cost of carbon’ — but it’s still way too low

The Supreme Court just okayed Biden’s ‘social cost of carbon’ — but it’s still way too low

Vox reports: The Supreme Court decided on May 26 to allow President Joe Biden’s administration to continue using a key metric in the fight against climate change. The court’s order, in refusing to put back an order from a federal judge in Louisiana that had blocked the administration, is just one line long. But it represents a big setback for the Republican-led states that have been suing the president over the metric, known as the social cost of carbon: a…

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The U.S. is the only country in which there are more civilian-owned guns than citizens

The U.S. is the only country in which there are more civilian-owned guns than citizens

Science News reports: On May 24, at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, 19 children and two teachers were killed by a shooter. Just 10 days earlier, a white gunman was accused of a racially motivated shooting in a grocery store in Buffalo, N.Y., that left 10 Black people dead. These tragic incidents are among the latest mass shootings to rattle the United States, the only country with more civilian-owned firearms than citizens. Sadly, mass shootings — the definitions of…

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As Jews, we must demand justice for Shireen Abu Akleh

As Jews, we must demand justice for Shireen Abu Akleh

Sasha Ghosh-Siminoff writes: Growing up in a Jewish household means engaging in a lot of political discourse: discussions about oppression, death, injustice, guilt. In some Jewish households, we discuss social justice, the need to fight for the rights of the oppressed, taking a lesson from the pain of our own history as a “homeless” and shunned people, ensuring that the destructive authoritarianism and hatred that led to the Holocaust are not repeated anywhere in the world again. The Jewish-American community…

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Russian forces close to encircling Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine

Russian forces close to encircling Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine

The Guardian reports: The besieged Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk appears to be almost completely surrounded by attacking Russian forces, as the Kremlin continued to make incremental gains in its offensive in the Donbas region, backed by withering shell fire. “The Russians are pounding residential neighbourhoods relentlessly,” regional governor, Serhiy Haidai, wrote in a Telegram post on Friday. “The residents of Sievierodonetsk have forgotten when was the last time there was silence in the city for at least half an hour.”…

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Russia is depopulating parts of eastern Ukraine, forcibly removing thousands into remote parts of Russia

Russia is depopulating parts of eastern Ukraine, forcibly removing thousands into remote parts of Russia

CNN reports: Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been processed through a series of Russian “filtration camps” in Eastern Ukraine and sent into Russia as part of a systemized program of forced removal, according to four sources familiar with the latest Western intelligence — an estimate far higher than US officials have publicly disclosed. After being detained in camps operated by Russian intelligence officials, many Ukrainians are then forcibly relocated to economically depressed areas in Russia, in some cases thousands…

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Diverging views about what constitutes victory in Ukraine

Diverging views about what constitutes victory in Ukraine

The New York Times reports: Three months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, America and its allies are quietly debating the inevitable question: How does this end? In recent days, presidents and prime ministers as well as the Democratic and Republican Party leaders in the United States have called for victory in Ukraine. But just beneath the surface are real divisions about what that would look like — and whether “victory” has the same definition in the United States, in Europe…

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U.S. praised for ‘sublime form’ of partnership management in NATO

U.S. praised for ‘sublime form’ of partnership management in NATO

David Ignatius writes: The first instruction that Secretary of State Antony Blinken got from President Biden was to “reset” America’s alliances and partnerships abroad so that the United States could deal with the challenges ahead. That strategy would prove decisive in combating Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Blinken and other officials gave me new details this week, describing a series of behind-the-scenes meetings over the past year that helped forge the U.S.-led coalition to support Ukraine. His narrative validates President Dwight…

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Department of Commerce decision puts fate of U.S. solar industry in jeopardy

Department of Commerce decision puts fate of U.S. solar industry in jeopardy

George Strobel writes: On March 28, in a decision that would put the U.S. solar industry on hold, the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated an anti-dumping investigation into imports of solar cells and modules from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam in response to a petition from a small California solar panel manufacturer, Auxin Solar. The investigation could result in tariffs of up to 250% on imports from these four countries, which account for more than 80% of all U.S. solar…

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How an organized Republican effort punishes companies for climate action

How an organized Republican effort punishes companies for climate action

The New York Times reports: In West Virginia, the state treasurer has pulled money from BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, because the Wall Street firm has flagged climate change as an economic risk. In Texas, a new law bars the state’s retirement and investment funds from doing business with companies that the state comptroller says are boycotting fossil fuels. Conservative lawmakers in 15 other states are promoting similar legislation. And officials in Utah and Idaho have assailed a major…

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What we have at stake in Ukraine

What we have at stake in Ukraine

Paul Starr writes: What stake do we have in the Russia-Ukraine War? I would put it this way: This is a war to prevent the realities of the 20th century from becoming our future in the 21st century. Russia today is an Orwellian nightmare, a dictatorship directly descended from the Soviet KGB that takes brutal retribution against its critics and hardly bothers to conceal it, the better to instill fear in others. It commits war crimes with the same moral…

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Why Ukraine’s ports are vital for global food prices

Why Ukraine’s ports are vital for global food prices

Laura Wellesley writes: The blockade of Ukraine’s ports is choking critical supplies of crops to the world and risks tipping vulnerable populations in developing countries closer to famine. Before the invasion, Ukraine and Russia were together supplying 100 per cent of Somalia’s wheat imports, 80 per cent of Egypt’s and 75 per cent of Sudan’s. Global food prices have reached all-time highs since Russia’s invasion and households in countries across the world are suffering the consequences. Humanitarian agencies are struggling…

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Activists from Kyiv and around world join state forces in fight against totalitarianism

Activists from Kyiv and around world join state forces in fight against totalitarianism

The Guardian reports: In an unnamed basement bar in central Kyiv, Ukrainian anarchists have created a headquarters where they gather supplies to send to their peers on the frontlines and welcome anarchists from abroad who have come to fight. It is unusual to see anarchists supporting state structures, but they say taking action against Russia is necessary for their survival. “We are fighting to protect the more or less free society that exists in Ukraine,” said an activist, Dmytro. “Without…

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Finland and NATO: When push came to shove

Finland and NATO: When push came to shove

Henri Vanhanen writes: For many, Finland’s decision has represented a sudden change of heart regarding military alignment. While NATO membership certainly did not seem likely in the early months of this year, Russia’s decision to invade Ukraine left Finland with no other option. Yet, applying for NATO membership was also something Finland was ready to do if push came to shove, and this was enabled by three factors. Firstly, since 2004, Finland had formally practised a ‘NATO option policy’, meaning…

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The real reason America doesn’t have gun control

The real reason America doesn’t have gun control

Ronald Brownstein writes: After each of the repeated mass shootings that now provide a tragic backbeat to American life, the same doomed dance of legislation quickly begins. As the outraged demands for action are inevitably derailed in Congress, disappointed gun-control advocates, and perplexed ordinary citizens, point their fingers at the influence of the National Rifle Association or the intransigent opposition of congressional Republicans. Those are both legitimate factors, but the stalemate over gun-control legislation since Bill Clinton’s first presidential term…

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