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Category: Politics

Justice Department promotes Trump’s disinformation on voting

Justice Department promotes Trump’s disinformation on voting

The New York Times reports: In the effort led by President Trump to create a misleading impression of widespread voter fraud, administration and campaign officials have seized on nine mail-in military ballots in a Pennsylvania county that Mr. Trump won by 20 points in 2016. Federal officials have disclosed that they are investigating whether local elections officials improperly discarded the ballots, at least seven of which were cast for Mr. Trump, they said. A Justice Department official said on Friday…

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Legal acumen: Why Amy Coney Barrett deserves to be on the Supreme Court

Legal acumen: Why Amy Coney Barrett deserves to be on the Supreme Court

Noah Feldman writes: Like many other liberals, I’m devastated by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death, which opened the way for President Donald Trump to nominate a third Supreme Court justice in his first term. And I’m revolted by the hypocrisy of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s willingness to confirm Trump’s nominee after refusing to even allow a vote on Judge Merrick Garland. Yet these political judgments need to be distinguished from a separate question: what to think about Judge Amy…

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Why the right-wing has a massive advantage on Facebook

Why the right-wing has a massive advantage on Facebook

Politico reports: Throughout 2020, Democrats have denounced Facebook with growing ferocity as a “right-wing echo chamber” with a “conservative bias” that’s giving an edge to Donald Trump in November. But Facebook says there’s a reason why right-wing figures are driving more engagement. It’s not that its algorithm favors conservatives — the company has long maintained that its platform is neutral. Instead, the right is better at connecting with people on a visceral level, it says. “Right-wing populism is always more…

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Republican Gov. Charlie Baker calls Trump’s dismissal of peaceful transfer of power ‘appalling and outrageous’

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker calls Trump’s dismissal of peaceful transfer of power ‘appalling and outrageous’

  NBC Boston reports: Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker launched into a passionate defense of mail-in voting Thursday that included fiery criticism of President Donald Trump’s recent refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses this fall to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. “A huge part of this nation’s allure, to the extent it exists, is the peaceful transmission of power based on the vote of people in this country,” Baker said. “Mail-in balloting has been with…

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‘Everyone sees the train wreck coming’ as Democrats brace for Trump refusing to accept defeat

‘Everyone sees the train wreck coming’ as Democrats brace for Trump refusing to accept defeat

Politico reports: Following his defeat in the 2016 Iowa caucus, Donald Trump accused Ted Cruz of cheating and said the results should be nullified. After winning the presidency that fall, Trump insisted, without evidence, that there was “serious voter fraud” in three states he lost to Hillary Clinton. Now, running behind Joe Biden in the polls, the president complains the outcome will be “rigged.” After more than four years of nonstop voter fraud claims, insinuations that he might not accept…

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At Pentagon, fears grow that Trump will pull military into election unrest

At Pentagon, fears grow that Trump will pull military into election unrest

The New York Times reports: Senior Pentagon leaders have a lot to worry about — Afghanistan, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Iran, China, Somalia, the Korean Peninsula. But chief among those concerns is whether their commander in chief might order American troops into any chaos around the coming elections. President Trump gave officials no solace on Wednesday when he again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power no matter who wins the election. On Thursday he doubled down by saying…

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Trump has always been a sore loser

Trump has always been a sore loser

Timothy L. O’Brien writes: [A]mid all the hand-wringing over what he may or may not do, don’t let Trump snatch away your own agency and attention. David Axelrod, as canny and experienced a political observer as there is, reminded everyone not to get overly distracted by Trump’s performance art. “You do wonder if the POTUS would sooner have us talking about his outrageous comments on the election than the 202,000 dead of COVID-19 or the 870,000 additional Americans who filed…

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America’s global reputation is in free-fall

America’s global reputation is in free-fall

The New York Times reports: Myanmar is a poor country struggling with open ethnic warfare and a coronavirus outbreak that could overload its broken hospitals. That hasn’t stopped its politicians from commiserating with a country they think has lost its way. “I feel sorry for Americans,” said U Myint Oo, a member of parliament in Myanmar. “But we can’t help the U.S. because we are a very small country.” The same sentiment prevails in Canada, one of the most developed…

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Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine PR stunt could cast a long shadow

Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine PR stunt could cast a long shadow

By Olga Dobrovidova, Undark, September 24, 2020 In August, the Russian government unveiled, with pomp and flair, “the world’s first registered vaccine against Covid-19.” Although the vaccine — known officially as Gam-COVID-Vac but marketed as Sputnik V for a global audience — has yet to demonstrate its safety and efficacy in a phase III trial, an emergency use authorization was issued to make it available for limited use in the general public. This month, the horse finally caught up with…

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Trump just confirmed he poses a real and present threat to democracy

Trump just confirmed he poses a real and present threat to democracy

John Avlon writes: American democracy has been defined by the peaceful transfer of power. Donald Trump seems to have other ideas. This is not a drill. This is not a game. Because the President of the United States just told us that he would not commit to peacefully turning over the government to a new administration if he loses the election. Forty-one days before the election, Donald Trump failed to affirm on Wednesday the most basic civic question any president…

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The complicity of Republican leaders in support of an immoral and dangerous president

The complicity of Republican leaders in support of an immoral and dangerous president

Anne Applebaum writes: In English, the word collaborator has a double meaning. A colleague can be described as a collaborator in a neutral or positive sense. But the other definition of collaborator, relevant here, is different: someone who works with the enemy, with the occupying power, with the dictatorial regime. In this negative sense, collaborator is closely related to another set of words: collusion, complicity, connivance. This negative meaning gained currency during the Second World War, when it was widely…

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Retired top general who advised Trump is among nearly 500 national security experts endorsing Biden

Retired top general who advised Trump is among nearly 500 national security experts endorsing Biden

CNN reports: A former senior military adviser to President Donald Trump has endorsed Joe Biden for president. Retired Gen. Paul Selva, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is one of nearly 500 national security experts and former officials who signed a letter in support of Biden over Trump in an open letter to America. Selva was re-nominated to the Joint Chiefs by Trump in 2017 after being first appointed by President Barack Obama in 2015. As vice…

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A post-Ginsburg Supreme Court could be one more climate obstacle

A post-Ginsburg Supreme Court could be one more climate obstacle

Bill McKibben writes: Among its many other tragic consequences, the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg may dramatically complicate the process of finding a legislative solution for the climate crisis. It now seems possible that a Democratic White House and Congress could convene in January, with a commitment to finally—after three decades of ducking—taking federal action on global warming. Indeed, after this record season of flame and gale, new polling shows that three out of four Americans blame climate change…

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China has built 380 internment camps in Xinjiang, study finds

China has built 380 internment camps in Xinjiang, study finds

The Guardian reports: China has built nearly 400 internment camps in Xinjiang region, with construction on dozens continuing over the last two years, even as Chinese authorities said their “re-education” system was winding down, an Australian thinktank has found. The network of camps in China’s far west, used to detain Uighurs and people from other Muslim minorities, include 14 that are still under construction, according to the latest satellite imaging obtained by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. In total ASPI…

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What if Trump refuses to concede the election?

What if Trump refuses to concede the election?

Barton Gellman writes: There is a cohort of close observers of our presidential elections, scholars and lawyers and political strategists, who find themselves in the uneasy position of intelligence analysts in the months before 9/11. As November 3 approaches, their screens are blinking red, alight with warnings that the political system does not know how to absorb. They see the obvious signs that we all see, but they also know subtle things that most of us do not. Something dangerous…

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CIA clamps down on flow of Russia intelligence to White House

CIA clamps down on flow of Russia intelligence to White House

Politico reports: The CIA has made it harder for intelligence about Russia to reach the White House, stoking fears among current and former officials that information is being suppressed to please a president known to erupt in anger whenever he is confronted with bad news about Moscow. Nine current and former officials said in interviews that CIA Director Gina Haspel has become extremely cautious about which, if any, Russia-related intelligence products make their way to President Donald Trump’s desk. Haspel…

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