RFK Jr.’s large-dollar donors are mostly Republicans

RFK Jr.’s large-dollar donors are mostly Republicans

Politico reports: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is collecting checks from past Donald Trump donors at a much higher rate than former Joe Biden contributors, a sign the independent presidential hopeful may pull more from the Republican electorate than Democratic voters. A POLITICO analysis of campaign finance records also shows that Kennedy’s bid has drawn millions of dollars from donors who kept their wallets shut in the last two presidential elections, suggesting he is activating people who have been turned off…

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Otis teaches a terrifying lesson in rapid hurricane intensification

Otis teaches a terrifying lesson in rapid hurricane intensification

John Morales writes: This is a scary new paradigm in the tropics. And we all need to worry. Hurricane Otis struck very near Acapulco, Mexico, on Tuesday night as a monster 165 mile-per-hour category 5 cyclone. On Monday night, about 24-hours before landfall, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) was predicting it would do so as 70 mile-per-hour tropical storm. With the energy content (and destructive potential) of the wind increasing with the cube of the windspeed, that means that Otis…

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Bats use the same brain cells to map physical and social worlds

Bats use the same brain cells to map physical and social worlds

Jake Buheler writes: A fruit bat hanging in the corner of a cave stirs; it is ready to move. It scans the space to look for a free perch and then takes flight, adjusting its membranous wings to angle an approach to a spot next to one of its fuzzy fellows. As it does so, neurological data lifted from its brain is broadcast to sensors installed in the cave’s walls. This is no balmy cave along the Mediterranean Sea. The…

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Israeli officials try to justify mass civilian casualties in Gaza by comparing it to destruction of Hiroshima

Israeli officials try to justify mass civilian casualties in Gaza by comparing it to destruction of Hiroshima

The New York Times reports: It became evident to U.S. officials that Israeli leaders believed mass civilian casualties were an acceptable price in the military campaign. In private conversations with American counterparts, Israeli officials referred to how the United States and other allied powers resorted to devastating bombings in Germany and Japan during World War II — including the dropping of the two atomic warheads in Hiroshima and Nagasaki — to try to defeat those countries. Publicly, Mr. Biden’s language…

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Top UN official in New York steps down citing ‘genocide’ of Palestinian civilians

Top UN official in New York steps down citing ‘genocide’ of Palestinian civilians

The Guardian reports: The director of the New York office of the UN high commissioner for human rights has left his post, protesting that the UN is “failing” in its duty to prevent what he categorizes as genocide of Palestinian civilians in Gaza under Israeli bombardment and citing the US, UK and much of Europe as “wholly complicit in the horrific assault”. Craig Mokhiber wrote on 28 October to the UN high commissioner in Geneva, Volker Turk, saying: “This will…

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Bolivia severs ties with Israel, others recall ambassadors over Gaza attacks

Bolivia severs ties with Israel, others recall ambassadors over Gaza attacks

Reuters reports: Bolivia’s government said on Tuesday it had broken diplomatic ties with Israel due to its attacks on the Gaza Strip, while neighbors Colombia and Chile recalled their ambassadors to the Middle Eastern nation for consultations. The three South American countries lambasted Israel’s attacks on the Gaza Strip and condemned the deaths of Palestinian citizens. Bolivia “decided to break diplomatic relations with the Israeli state in repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place…

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A new wave of antisemitism threatens to rock an already unstable world

A new wave of antisemitism threatens to rock an already unstable world

Stephen Collinson writes: History is flashing warnings to the world. Outbursts of antisemitism have often been harbingers of societies in deep trouble and omens that extremism and violence are imminent. So the wave of global hatred directed against Jews – intensified by Israel’s indiscriminate response in Gaza to horrific Hamas terrorist murders of Israeli civilians on October 7 – should not just be seen as a reaction to the Middle East yet again slumping into war. Recent antisemitism is also…

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Republicans want to keep the IRS underfunded so rich tax cheats get away with it

Republicans want to keep the IRS underfunded so rich tax cheats get away with it

Media Matters for America reports: Several major national news outlets are promoting House Republicans’ deceptive spin as the party seeks to leverage emergency funding for Israel to enact its top priority of protecting wealthy tax cheats. President Joe Biden requested $105 billion in emergency supplemental funding earlier this month. His proposed package includes military aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan; money to enhance U.S. border security; and humanitarian aid for Palestinian, Israeli, and Ukrainian civilians. But in a Fox interview…

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Biden administration approves biggest offshore wind farm yet

Biden administration approves biggest offshore wind farm yet

The New York Times reports: The Interior Department on Tuesday approved a plan to install up to 176 giant wind turbines off the coast of Virginia, clearing the way for what would be the nation’s largest offshore wind farm yet. The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project, to be built by Dominion Energy, is the fifth commercial-scale offshore wind project approved by the Biden administration. If completed, the 2.6-gigawatt wind farm would produce enough electricity to power more than 900,000 homes,…

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Top Trump allies facing charges lose lawyers after failing to pay legal bills

Top Trump allies facing charges lose lawyers after failing to pay legal bills

The Guardian reports: A trio of top Donald Trump allies who have racked up huge legal expenses to defend themselves from either criminal charges, convictions or defamation lawsuits have lost key lawyers for failing to pay six- and seven-figure bills in a sign of the huge legal problems they face. The hefty legal bills of the ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, underscore the scale of the criminal and civil charges that…

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Collective punishment in Gaza will not bring Israel security

Collective punishment in Gaza will not bring Israel security

Wendy Pearlman writes: Responding to Hamas’ horrific killing of some 1,400 Israelis on Oct. 7, Israel has targeted the Gaza Strip with one of the most devastating military assaults of modern times. By day six, according to Middle East analyst Charles Lister, Israel had dropped more than twice as many bombs on this densely populated civilian area as the anti-Islamic State coalition dropped per month on an area 126 times as large. By day nine, Israel had pummeled 2.2 million…

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‘This war is prophetically significant’: Why U.S. evangelical Christians support Israel

‘This war is prophetically significant’: Why U.S. evangelical Christians support Israel

The Guardian reports: It didn’t take long for many evangelical Christian groups in America to show their support for Israel. Hours after Hamas attacked the country on 7 October, killing more than 1,400 people, Christians United for Israel, an evangelical lobbying group which claims to have more than 10 million members, posted a message to on X, formerly known as Twitter. “To the terrorists who have chosen this fight, hear this, what you do to Israel, god will do to…

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The Christofascism of Mike Johnson

The Christofascism of Mike Johnson

Noah Berlatsky writes: It took Mike Johnson just a couple days last week to rise from a relatively obscure Louisiana congressman to House speaker. Suffice it to say his background and policy positions did not hold up well under their first exposure to national attention. Johnson is an opposition researcher’s goldmine. Even over the weekend, news reports and video clips steadily trickled out exposing the new speaker for embracing views that are far out of step with mainstream America. In…

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Ivanka Trump helped her dad lie about his net worth

Ivanka Trump helped her dad lie about his net worth

Forbes reports: Ivanka Trump is expected to testify on Friday in a $250 million fraud case that the New York attorney general is waging against her father and his associates. That’s bad news for Ivanka, who tried to get out of taking the stand. But it might be even worse news for her father, who employed Ivanka in his years-long con to convince the world that he had more money than he actually did. The attorney general will have plenty…

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