Rubio fends off conservative critics of Iran deal as agreement appears imminent

Rubio fends off conservative critics of Iran deal as agreement appears imminent

The Washington Post reports: Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday defended the Trump administration’s push for a deal to end the war with Iran, even as it came under attack from Republican hawks urging the United States to restart hostilities against Tehran. “There is no one who has been stronger on this issue than President Trump,” Rubio said, while noting he expects “some good news” in the coming hours regarding a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which…

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‘Trump backed down and lost his nerve!’

‘Trump backed down and lost his nerve!’

The Times of Israel spoke to regime opponents in Iran: All five respondents who spoke to The Times of Israel claimed the vast majority of Iranians oppose the regime and want it overthrown — a stance that is difficult to measure in a country where polling is restricted, dissent is criminalized, and internet access has been repeatedly curtailed. Nasrin, a 35-year-old from the northernmost part of Iran, said that while some 10% of Iranians still support the regime, ordinary Iranians…

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Trump’s reconstruction promises stall: ‘The door to the future of Gaza is still closed’

Trump’s reconstruction promises stall: ‘The door to the future of Gaza is still closed’

The Guardian reports: Gaza is in a grim limbo more than seven months after Donald Trump brokered a ceasefire deal: no reconstruction is under way, the so-called Board of Peace is struggling with funding and Palestinian technocrats chosen to run the strip are sidelined in Egypt. In a 15 May submission to the UN security council, the Board of Peace said the “principal obstacle” to realising Trump’s plan for Gaza was Hamas’s refusal to hand over its weapons and cede…

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Trump administration chips away at last traces of broad inquiry into Jan. 6

Trump administration chips away at last traces of broad inquiry into Jan. 6

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department has moved on two fronts to chip away at some of the last traces of its vast investigation into the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, aligning itself ever more closely with President Trump’s own efforts to whitewash the events of that day. On Friday evening, just as the holiday weekend was beginning, federal prosecutors in Washington filed motions to formally dismiss the most serious criminal cases stemming from Jan….

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Hawaii just found a way around Citizens United. Other states are following

Hawaii just found a way around Citizens United. Other states are following

    Hawaii just made history, becoming the first state in the nation to effectively ban dark money in elections. The new law takes a novel approach: rather than trying to restrict corporate speech, it redefines the powers corporations have in the first place — and political spending is not among them. The strategy, known as the “Corporate Power Reset,” was developed by Tom Moore of the Center for American Progress. And at least a dozen states are now working…

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Mood in Russia turns against Putin: ‘There is profound disappointment in him’

Mood in Russia turns against Putin: ‘There is profound disappointment in him’

Pjotr Sauer and Shaun Walker write: Vladimir Putin pulled up to a hotel in central Moscow earlier in May in a Russian-made SUV, dressed casually in jeans and a light jacket. Carrying a bouquet of flowers, he walked unhurriedly into the lobby and embraced his former schoolteacher Vera Gurevich, who kissed him on both cheeks. He then helped Gurevich into his car and drove her to dinner at the Kremlin. It came just a day after several western media outlets,…

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Itamar Ben-Gvir really is the face of Israel

Itamar Ben-Gvir really is the face of Israel

Ben Reiff writes: No, you’re not hallucinating: western governments really are condemning Israel, one-by-one, without equivocation. Not because of the ongoing genocide in Gaza that has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, of course, but because of a PR stunt in which Israel’s national security minister filmed himself taunting foreign activists. On Wednesday morning, Itamar Ben-Gvir arrived at the port where Israel had detained hundreds of participants in an international aid flotilla that was attempting to breach the naval blockade of…

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Britain’s new political prisoners

Britain’s new political prisoners

The Guardian reports: Britain has created a new breed of political prisoners through the systematic incarceration of people acting to prevent climate breakdown and the annihilation of Gaza, a report claims. The research by Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the protest group Defend Our Juries says that custodial sentences for acts of direct action or civil disobedience were once rare but are now being imposed with increasing length and frequency. Their report, which will be launched on Tuesday,…

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The Trump-Miller anti-immigration agenda

The Trump-Miller anti-immigration agenda

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has pulled back its aggressive operations in cities like Chicago and Minneapolis after bad polling indicated the crackdown on illegal immigration was unpopular. In its wake, however, a new approach is emerging on legal immigration, one that makes it harder for those abroad to enter the United States, and for those already here on a temporary basis to stay. In recent months, Trump administration officials have discussed the legal immigration system as…

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U.S. funding cuts have hampered response to the deadly Ebola crisis, aid workers say

U.S. funding cuts have hampered response to the deadly Ebola crisis, aid workers say

CNN reports: As a deadly Ebola outbreak tears through northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo, many first responders are turning a critical eye on events that preceded the crisis: layoffs of health workers funded by the United States, shortages of critical medical supplies and a steep reduction in American support for global aid programs. The World Health Organization says more than 170 deaths are thought to be linked to this outbreak, with nearly 750 suspected cases so far and it’s…

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Federal judge dismisses indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia — rules prosecutors were ‘vindictive’

Federal judge dismisses indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia — rules prosecutors were ‘vindictive’

Tennessee Lookout reports: A federal judge on Friday dismissed a criminal indictment against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 30-year-old man living in Maryland who was wrongly deported to El Salvador last year, calling the prosecution “vindictive and selective.” “Then-Attorney General Robert H. Jackson warned his fellow prosecutors long ago of the danger of picking the person first and the crime second … That is the situation here,” U.S. District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw, who was appointed by President Barack Obama to…

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Ted Cruz says GOP senators were ‘screaming’ at Todd Blanche during ‘anti-weaponization’ fund briefing

Ted Cruz says GOP senators were ‘screaming’ at Todd Blanche during ‘anti-weaponization’ fund briefing

NBC News reports: Screaming, yelling and accusations of self-dealing. That’s how Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Friday described a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that’s drawn bipartisan opposition. On his podcast “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” the Texas senator described the meeting as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.” “Fiery does not begin to cut it,” Cruz said. “My…

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A first among major nations, India is industrializing with solar

A first among major nations, India is industrializing with solar

Fred Pearce writes: A sea of solar panels is rapidly engulfing one of the world’s largest salt deserts. By 2029, nearly 60 million panels will cover 280 square miles of India’s Rann of Kutch, extending right up to the border with Pakistan. The Khavda solar park is set to be the world’s largest and most powerful supplier of electricity from the sun, with a generating capacity of 30 gigawatts — 30 times the size of a typical coal or nuclear…

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U.S. prepares for new military strikes against Iran

U.S. prepares for new military strikes against Iran

CBS News reports: The Trump administration was preparing Friday for a fresh round of military strikes against Iran, according to sources with direct knowledge of the planning, even as diplomacy continued. No final decision on strikes had been reached as of Friday afternoon. “Circumstances pertaining to Government” are keeping President Trump from attending his son Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding this weekend, he said in a social media post. The president had planned to spend Memorial Day weekend at his golf…

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