Yahya Sinwar’s death can end this war

Yahya Sinwar’s death can end this war

Matthew Duss writes: The death of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader who was believed to be the mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, provides a new opening for the United States to meaningfully push for a cease-fire and hostage release in Gaza and for the de-escalation of violence across the Middle East. While Mr. Sinwar was far from alone in resisting an agreement — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has repeatedly and openly undermined cease-fire efforts for months —…

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The ‘pact of silence’ between Israelis and their media

The ‘pact of silence’ between Israelis and their media

Edo Konrad writes: Halfway into our conversation, Oren Persico makes a startling confession. The veteran Israeli journalist, whose job for the better half of the last two decades has been to monitor his country’s media, doesn’t watch mainstream Israeli news. “I just can’t do it,” Persico, who has worked as a staff writer for the Israeli media watchdog site The Seventh Eye since 2006, tells me. “It’s depressing and infuriating — it’s propaganda, it’s full of lies. Mostly, it’s a…

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Is Trump a fascist?

Is Trump a fascist?

Ruth Ben-Ghiat writes: There Trump stood, eyes closed, swaying to the music, as the minutes ticked by and his handlers tried to salvage the situation, likely wondering what on earth had happened to him. He had started his Oct. 14 town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, a town hall being an opportunity for people to ask him questions. Then people started to faint in the overheated room. “Personally, I enjoy this, you know,” Trump commented callously, as medical personnel wheeled people…

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Trump suggests Zelenskyy is to blame for the Russia-Ukraine war

Trump suggests Zelenskyy is to blame for the Russia-Ukraine war

Politico reports: Donald Trump blamed Russia’s war on Ukraine on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — an escalation of a pattern of sympathetic rhetoric toward the war’s aggressor, Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He should never have let that war start. The war’s a loser,” Trump said, referring to Zelenskyy, on a podcast with conservative commentator Patrick Bet-David published Thursday. The former president added that President Joe Biden had “instigated that war,” which he has repeatedly maintained “would never have happened” if…

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Both parties are getting men wrong

Both parties are getting men wrong

Richard V. Reeves writes: With the election just a few weeks away, the contest for the votes of men is heating up. Young women’s support is effectively locked up for the Democrats, but young men still seem up for grabs and the Trump-Vance ticket is making inroads, with some polls showing a double-digit advantage. Ironically, an election that was supposed to be about women because of the issue of abortion rights may in the end be decided by the votes…

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Israel kills its prime target – but Sinwar’s death seems down to chance, not precise planning

Israel kills its prime target – but Sinwar’s death seems down to chance, not precise planning

Julian Borger writes: In the end, after a year-long, multi-agency manhunt involving the latest technology, Israel’s best special forces and American assistance, Yahya Sinwar appears to have been killed by regular soldiers who had stumbled into him and had no idea whom they had killed. According to the initial reports, they were not there on an assassination operation and had no prior intelligence that they could be in the vicinity of the elusive Hamas leader, architect of the 7 October…

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Why you won’t hear the military arguing about climate change

Why you won’t hear the military arguing about climate change

Sherri Goodman and Leah Emanuel write: Today, the U.S. military is confronting a new enemy: climate change. Before Hurricane Helene devastated the Southeast last month, more than 5,900 National Guard members were called up to help prepare; after the storm, the Pentagon sent active-duty forces to assist with road clearing and logistical support. In June, when Hurricane Beryl spiraled through the Caribbean before making its U.S. landfall, Texas and Vermont National Guard units supported disaster response efforts, working with the…

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Half of all global food threatened by growing water crisis, report says

Half of all global food threatened by growing water crisis, report says

NBC News reports: The world has a worsening water crisis and half of all food production will be at risk of failure by the middle of this century. That’s the worrying message from a report released Wednesday by a major international study. Half of the world’s population already faces water scarcity and that proportion is growing too, according to the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, which is funded by the Dutch government and facilitated by the Organization for…

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The little-known factor driving up housing costs: dirty money

The little-known factor driving up housing costs: dirty money

James K. Boyce and Léonce Ndikumana write: The nation’s housing affordability crisis has become so acute that even our presidential candidates are paying attention to it. Former President Donald Trump blames immigrants for driving up prices and vows he will reduce demand by banning mortgages for “illegal immigrants” and deporting them. For her part, Vice President Kamala Harris promises to increase supply by building 3 million new homes. But the number of  housing units in the nation has grown faster…

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Elon Musk and other billionaires invest staggering sums into electing Trump

Elon Musk and other billionaires invest staggering sums into electing Trump

CNN reports: Some of the world’s wealthiest figures – led by conservative donor Miriam Adelson and tech billionaire Elon Musk – have funneled tens of millions of dollars into political groups in recent months to boost Donald Trump’s White House bid, new reports filed Tuesday with federal regulators show. Musk, the world’s richest person, gave nearly $75 million to a pro-Trump super PAC that he helped form over the summer – a massive cash infusion aimed at helping turn out…

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An AI-powered bot army on X spread pro-Trump and pro-GOP propaganda, research shows

An AI-powered bot army on X spread pro-Trump and pro-GOP propaganda, research shows

NBC News reports: An army of political propaganda accounts powered by artificial intelligence posed as real people on X to argue in favor of Republican candidates and causes, according to a research report out of Clemson University. The report details a coordinated AI campaign using large language models (LLM) — the type of artificial intelligence that powers convincing, human-seeming chat bots like ChatGPT — to reply to other users. While it’s unclear who operated or funded the network, its focus…

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Right-wing activists pushed false claims about election fraud. Now they’re recruiting poll workers in swing states

Right-wing activists pushed false claims about election fraud. Now they’re recruiting poll workers in swing states

By Phoebe Petrovic, Wisconsin Watch This story was originally published by ProPublica Right-wing strategists still talk about what happened in Detroit in 2020, when poll watchers stood outside the absentee ballot counting center, banging on windows and shouting “Stop the count!” Conspiracy theories swirled that those volunteers had been kept out while something corrupt was unfolding inside. In fact, at one point the facility held almost double the number of permitted poll watchers of both parties. But the theories continue…

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Russian spies apparently engaged in ‘a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets’

Russian spies apparently engaged in ‘a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets’

The Guardian reports: Counter-terrorism police are investigating whether Russian spies planted an incendiary device on a plane to Britain which later caught fire at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham, the Guardian can reveal. Nobody was reported injured in the fire on 22 July at a warehouse in the suburb of Minworth that handles parcels for delivery, and the blaze was dealt with by the local fire brigade and staff. The parcel is believed to have arrived at the DHL warehouse…

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‘Stop profiting off genocide’: 200 arrested at Jewish Voice for Peace protest at NY Stock Exchange

‘Stop profiting off genocide’: 200 arrested at Jewish Voice for Peace protest at NY Stock Exchange

  “There is nothing antisemitic about fighting for people’s right to live,” says Jewish Voice for Peace organizer Elena Stein, who on Monday joined hundreds of protesters arrested to block entrances to the New York Stock Exchange. We discuss the historic mass protest, which called for an Israeli arms embargo and an end to war profiteering by companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. “We are filled with horror beyond words and are attempting to embody just an ounce of that…

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