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Category: Politics

The Christian right is in decline, and it’s taking America with it

The Christian right is in decline, and it’s taking America with it

Michelle Goldberg writes: The presidency of George W. Bush may have been the high point of the modern Christian right’s influence in America. White evangelicals were the largest religious faction in the country. “They had a president who claimed to be one of their own, he had a testimony, talked in evangelical terms,” said Robert P. Jones, chief executive of the Public Religion Research Institute and author of the 2016 book “The End of White Christian America.” Back then, much…

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Climate change is about greed. It’s time for big oil to pay us back

Climate change is about greed. It’s time for big oil to pay us back

Jeffrey Sachs writes: Four interconnected pieces of climate change-related news from the past two weeks reveal America’s predicament. And they also show the way forward, which ultimately must include oil companies’ paying restitution for damage that they have done to the climate and humanity for decades. The first of the four pieces of climate news is the deadly heat wave hitting the western US and Canada, killing hundreds to date. According to the United Nations, there has been a “staggering…

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Delta variant said to be far more widespread than federal estimates

Delta variant said to be far more widespread than federal estimates

Politico reports: The more-transmissible Delta coronavirus variant is believed to be significantly more widespread than the current federal projections, according to two senior Biden administration health officials with knowledge of the situation. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released late Tuesday shows the Delta strain accounted for more than 51 percent of new Covid-19 cases from June 20 to July 3. But the reality on the ground is likely much higher because states and private labs are taking weeks…

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White evangelicals now outnumbered by mainline Protestants in U.S.

White evangelicals now outnumbered by mainline Protestants in U.S.

New York Magazine reports: The new “2020 Census of American Religion” from the Public Religion Research Institute is out, and while it has a number of interesting findings, the most surprising is that among white Christians, mainline Protestants have reversed a long-standing decline in membership and have now surged past Evangelical Protestants. The survey measured self-identification among white Christians as “evangelical”/“born-again” Protestant or “other” Protestant, so it is not correlated to institutional membership in this or that denomination. But generally…

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Trump’s social media lawsuits feature a mashup of arguments courts have already rejected

Trump’s social media lawsuits feature a mashup of arguments courts have already rejected

BuzzFeed News reports: Former president Donald Trump’s latest attempt at getting back on mainstream social media platforms came in the form of lawsuits on Wednesday against Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube — each featuring a series of claims that multiple courts, including the US Supreme Court, have rebuffed. Trump was suspended from Facebook and Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the Jan. 6 riots at the US Capitol and blocked from YouTube a few days later; all three companies cited posts…

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Iran’s counter-revolutionary role in the shifting political landscape of the Middle East

Iran’s counter-revolutionary role in the shifting political landscape of the Middle East

Danny Postel writes: The last decade has seen historic political upheavals across the Middle East and North Africa: a tsunami of popular uprisings that have brought down several dictators and led to momentous transformations in political consciousness, if not always to democratic outcomes. But the last decade has also seen a concomitant counter-revolutionary roll-back across the region: authoritarian regimes, entrenched elites, ruling classes, deep states, and reactionary forces have marshalled considerable resources to torpedo these movements from below. Saudi Arabia’s…

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Global experts urge Boris Johnson to delay ‘dangerous’ Covid reopening

Global experts urge Boris Johnson to delay ‘dangerous’ Covid reopening

The Guardian reports: Lifting the remaining Covid restrictions in England this month is “dangerous and premature”, according to international scientists and doctors, who have called on the UK government to pause reopening until more people are vaccinated. Writing in the Lancet, more than 100 global experts warn that removing restrictions on 19 July will cause millions of infections and risk creating a generation with chronic health problems and disability from long Covid, the impact of which may be felt for…

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Might we have reached peak populism?

Might we have reached peak populism?

Yascha Mounk writes: Feeling optimistic about the state of American politics is hard. The country is deeply polarized. Much of the debate consists of name-calling and demonization. Dissatisfied with a strategy of maximal obstructionism in Congress, Republicans in state houses are trying to make subverting the outcome of the next election easier. But we can’t forget how much worse things could be right now—and what a major achievement it was for Joe Biden to have defeated Donald Trump. America booted…

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Trump’s latest effort to fleece his followers

Trump’s latest effort to fleece his followers

CNBC reports: Former President Donald Trump took his fight with three massive tech companies to court, filing lawsuits that legal experts say are all but guaranteed to fail – even as they rally Republican voters, fundraisers and donors. Trump revealed Wednesday that he is suing Facebook, Twitter and Google, as well as their respective CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, in class-action lawsuits. Trump, who has a history of threatening legal action but not always following through, made…

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Surging global food prices put staple meals out of reach

Surging global food prices put staple meals out of reach

The Washington Post reports: A year of coronavirus pandemic saw a pot of jollof rice grow steadily more expensive in the Nigerian suburb of Nyanya. At Nyanya Market, near Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, the price of the rice that forms the base for the dish went up by 10 percent. A small tin of tomatoes? Twenty-nine percent costlier. And the onions? Their price jumped by a third, according to a Nigerian research firm. Surging consumer food prices are a local problem…

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We must unite to preserve democracy against an authoritarian movement

We must unite to preserve democracy against an authoritarian movement

Joe Trippi writes: America is exhausted. We’ve gone through the worst presidency in our history, when the very concept of what it meant to be an American was challenged. A pandemic has killed over 600,000 of our fellow Americans, more than we lost in both world wars of the last century. There is a desperate longing for normalcy. At last we have a normal president with a competent administration. But this is not a normal time. American democracy is in…

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Six months after January 6, Republicans have a new message: Insurrection? What insurrection?

Six months after January 6, Republicans have a new message: Insurrection? What insurrection?

HuffPost reports: Six months after their leader tried to overturn the election he had lost by more than 7 million votes, Republicans have settled on a message about the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol: Insurrection? What insurrection? From calls to let bygones be bygones, to punishing dissidents who dare criticize former President Donald Trump for instigating that day’s attack, to literally describing the mob as no different from everyday “tourists,” the Republican Party ― with notable exceptions ―…

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Racism and reactionary politics kept Nikole Hannah-Jones from joining UNC

Racism and reactionary politics kept Nikole Hannah-Jones from joining UNC

UNC’s Hussman Faculty writes: Today, we learned that Ms. Nikole Hannah-Jones has declined a tenured appointment as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media. While disappointed, we are not surprised. We support Ms. Hannah-Jones’s choice. The appalling treatment of one of our nation’s most-decorated journalists by her own alma mater was humiliating, inappropriate, and unjust. We will be frank: It was racist. Our school highly regards Ms. Hannah-Jones’s work, ability, and…

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Iceland tried a four-day work week. It was an overwhelming success

Iceland tried a four-day work week. It was an overwhelming success

ZME Science reports: Among the many things the coronavirus pandemic has affected, our work-life balance has also taken a hit. Most people are simultaneously working from home while doing their day-to-day activities, with many reporting they actually work more than they did before the pandemic struck in 2020, which leaves many feeling burnt out and stressed — but also unwilling to return to the office. This has raised discussions over a four-day working week as a way to increase productivity…

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Rudy Giuliani’s legal defense fund is $4,990,410 underfunded

Rudy Giuliani’s legal defense fund is $4,990,410 underfunded

Vanity Fair reports: When we last checked in with Rudy Giuliani, things weren’t looking so hot for Donald Trump’s former personal attorney. Aside from having gone from “America’s mayor” to “what the hell happened to that guy”—which is a big aside!—Giuliani was facing a whole bunch of very serious legal issues including but not limited to: his apartment and office being raided as part of a criminal investigation into his Ukraine dealings; a Justice Department probe of his work involving…

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What’s keeping democracy experts up most at night? An overturned election

What’s keeping democracy experts up most at night? An overturned election

NBC News reports: Congress is just beginning a new investigation into the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, but the movement behind it remains as active as ever. Former President Donald Trump is frequently repeating false claims of victory, plotting revenge against politicians who opposed his efforts to overturn the election, attacking key Republicans who refuse to back him up now and hinting at a return to power, either through another presidential run or some other means. There’s no legal…

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