Israel is daring Iran and Hezbollah to retaliate, says Vali Nasr

Israel is daring Iran and Hezbollah to retaliate, says Vali Nasr

  Tensions are once again escalating between Israel and Iran, after the Israeli military committed back-to-back assassinations last week on a commander of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon and a prominent Hamas leader who was visiting Tehran for the new Iranian president’s inauguration. Israel is reportedly preparing for retaliatory strikes from both groups, and residents in southern Lebanon continue to flee as many fear that the ongoing crossfire between Hezbollah and Israel at the border could now turn into…

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Long COVID is a $1 trillion problem with no cure. Experts plead for governments to wake up

Long COVID is a $1 trillion problem with no cure. Experts plead for governments to wake up

Fortune reports: For months, governmental officials around the world have appeared to want to forgo discussing the specter of long COVID. As a new review makes clear, that is wishful thinking—and the latest COVID variants may well kick long COVID into overdrive, a scenario that researchers and experts have been warning about for some time. “I think they (government agencies) are itching to pretend that COVID is over and that long COVID does not exist,” says Ziyad Al-Aly, director of…

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Walz and legions of ‘dudes’ want to give men permission to vote Democrat

Walz and legions of ‘dudes’ want to give men permission to vote Democrat

NPR reports: When Vice President Harris introduced her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to the nation this week, she ran through his biography – dad, military member, high school football coach, teacher – but lingered on one particular story about his time teaching and coaching. “Coach Walz was approached by a student in his social studies class,” Harris said. “The young man was one of the first openly gay students at the school and was hoping to start a…

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George Floyd’s brother endorses Harris-Walz, says Minnesota governor is ‘built for this’

George Floyd’s brother endorses Harris-Walz, says Minnesota governor is ‘built for this’

NBC News reports: Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was just a year into his first term when in May of 2020 a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes, spurring protests across the state and the nation. To Philonise Floyd, Walz’s compassion and dedication to ensure accountability for his older brother’s murder — and for other police brutality victims in Minnesota — is one of things that make him worthy of being the…

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Georgia’s election board is out of control. Can anything be done?

Georgia’s election board is out of control. Can anything be done?

  Lisa Rubin writes: On Tuesday night, as Democrats cheered Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s debut as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, something considerably less joyful was going down in Atlanta. As my colleague Ja’han Jones explained, Georgia’s State Election Board, a five-member body controlled by fervent Donald Trump loyalists, adopted a rule allowing local election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results — a task that, pursuant to Georgia statutory law, has long been understood to…

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What the Supreme Court left unsaid about Trump’s criminal immunity

What the Supreme Court left unsaid about Trump’s criminal immunity

Politico reports: When the Supreme Court set out to decide Donald Trump’s bid for presidential immunity, the justices were aiming to establish “a rule for the ages.” Instead, the court left a muddle that both Trump and his prosecutors now hope to exploit — and their efforts may send the case hurtling right back to the justices, perhaps within months. The July 1 immunity ruling was widely viewed as a major victory for Trump because it declared him “absolutely immune”…

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S&P 500 CEOs make more than 268 times their median worker’s income

S&P 500 CEOs make more than 268 times their median worker’s income

Quartz reports: It would take more than five career lifetimes for workers to earn what S&P 500 index chief executive officers earn in just one year, according to a new report from the AFL-CIO. CEOs in the S&P 500 made about $17.7 million on average in 2023, according to the latest edition of the federation of labor unions’s “Paywatch” report. That’s more than 268 times the median worker’s income at those companies, according to the AFL-CIO, which reviewed compensation data…

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Israel has created its own Abu Ghraib — and the world is silent

Israel has created its own Abu Ghraib — and the world is silent

Lubna Masarwa and Peter Oborne writes: It’s been just over 20 years since CBS News published the sobering photographs that proved the US army was carrying out unspeakable crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Rape. Degradation. Homicide. Torture, both psychological and physical. Sexual humiliation. The revelations of US barbarity were greeted with horror around the world and played a major role in turning opinion against the Iraq War. In recent days, it has become all too clear that…

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You know who else should be on trial for the UK’s far-right riots? Elon Musk

You know who else should be on trial for the UK’s far-right riots? Elon Musk

Jonathan Freedland writes: One man is missing. Of course, it’s good that so many of those responsible for a week of terrifying far-right violence are facing an especially swift and severe form of justice – but there’s one extremely rich and powerful suspect who should join them in the dock. If the UK authorities truly want to hold accountable all those who unleashed riots and pogroms in Britain, they need to go after Elon Musk. To be sure, direct guilt…

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U.S., Egypt and Qatar call for ‘urgent talks’ next week to reach Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal

U.S., Egypt and Qatar call for ‘urgent talks’ next week to reach Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal

CBS News reports: The leaders of the U.S., Egypt and Qatar called for Israel and Hamas to resume cease-fire talks next week in either Doha or Cairo. In a joint statement, President Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani urged both parties “to resume urgent discussion” on Aug. 15 “to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay.” “It is time to bring immediate relief both to the…

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Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan: ‘The door is cracked open’ for Harris to address frustrations over Gaza

Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan: ‘The door is cracked open’ for Harris to address frustrations over Gaza

  When President Biden was the Democratic candidate, he faced intense scrutiny from many Muslim and Arab Americans over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. The city of Dearborn, Michigan, is home to one of the largest populations of Muslim Americans. Mayor Abdullah Hammoud joined Amna Nawaz and discussed if the new Democratic ticket of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz can quell the concerns.   “We want a meeting with Vice President Harris so we can talk to her to…

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Trump suggests he’s open to revoking access to abortion pill

Trump suggests he’s open to revoking access to abortion pill

The Washington Post reports: Donald Trump suggested in a news conference Thursday that he is open to curbing access to abortion pills through federal regulations, declining to rule out a sweeping move that some antiabortion allies have advocated. Trump has previously praised a Supreme Court ruling that maintained access to the key abortion drug mifepristone, saying, “I agree with their decision to have done that, and I will not block it.” But the GOP presidential nominee muddled his position at…

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Harris leads Trump by 5 points in Ipsos poll. Trump says he wants 3 debates in September

Harris leads Trump by 5 points in Ipsos poll. Trump says he wants 3 debates in September

Reuters reports: Democrat Kamala Harris leads Republican Donald Trump 42% to 37% in the race for the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, according to an Ipsos poll published on Thursday. The poll found Harris had widened her lead since a July 22-23 Reuters/Ipsos survey, which found her up 37% to 34% over Trump. The nationwide poll of 2,045 U.S. adults, conducted Aug. 2-7, found 4% of those surveyed backed independent candidate Robert Kennedy Jr., down from 10% in July. Ipsos…

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Elon Musk’s X accused of bias after pro-Harris accounts labeled as ‘spam’

Elon Musk’s X accused of bias after pro-Harris accounts labeled as ‘spam’

The Washington Post reports: Prominent X accounts advocating for Vice President Kamala Harris have been labeled as spam or restricted in recent weeks, triggering alarm among some Democrats that Elon Musk’s social media platform is tilted in favor of his chosen candidate, former president Donald Trump. Only a handful of pro-Harris accounts, including one called “White Dudes for Harris,” appear to have been affected. But the recurring issues are raising questions about whether Musk’s platform is intentionally censoring the pages,…

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