January 6 was Trump’s own project all along

January 6 was Trump’s own project all along

Donald Ayer, Stuart Gerson, and Dennis Aftergut write: After seven hearings held by the January 6 committee thus far this summer, doubts as to who is responsible have been resolved. The evidence is now overwhelming that Donald Trump was the driving force behind a massive criminal conspiracy to interfere with the official January 6 congressional proceeding and to defraud the United States of a fair election outcome. The evidence is clearer and more robust than we as former federal prosecutors—two…

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Janet Yellen’s global campaign to defund Russia’s war machine

Janet Yellen’s global campaign to defund Russia’s war machine

The Washington Post reports: Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen was feted by Japan’s leaders after arriving here on Sunday, lunching with the country’s top economists, meeting with senior executives from Sony and Panasonic and lighting incense at the wake of former prime minister Shinzo Abe. But beneath the public bonhomie, Yellen’s hosts quietly expressed concerns about potential fallout from her push to create a new global price cap on Russian oil. Japanese officials have communicated that they are worried that…

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Prominent conservatives issue report rebutting Trump election claims

Prominent conservatives issue report rebutting Trump election claims

CNN reports: A group of conservatives, including prominent lawyers and retired federal judges, issued a 72-page report on Thursday categorically rebutting each of the claims made in court by former President Donald Trump and his supporters over the 2020 election results. The report, “LOST, NOT STOLEN: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election,” looked at more than 60 court cases Trump and his supporters filed and lost in six key battleground states. It reached…

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Young voters are fed up with their elderly leaders

Young voters are fed up with their elderly leaders

The New York Times reports: Alexandra Chadwick went to the polls in 2020 with the singular goal of ousting Donald J. Trump. A 22-year-old first time voter, she saw Joseph R. Biden Jr. as more of a safeguard than an inspiring political figure, someone who could stave off threats to abortion access, gun control and climate policy. Two years later, as the Supreme Court has eroded federal protections on all three, Ms. Chadwick now sees President Biden and other Democratic…

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What’s next after Supreme Court’s climate ruling?

What’s next after Supreme Court’s climate ruling?

Dana Nuccitelli writes: The Supreme Court’s June 30 ruling in the West Virginia v. EPA, as detailed by Lexi Smith on this site, substantially curtailed the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate climate pollutants. Though the language of the decision itself appears to be narrow – limiting the extent of regulatory options for existing power plants under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act – it also elevated the newly-conceived “major questions doctrine.” That principle holds that any “major” new…

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‘Ancient ethnic hatreds’ is poor shorthand and dangerous

‘Ancient ethnic hatreds’ is poor shorthand and dangerous

Marko Attila Hoare writes: The pop group U2 staged a concert in Sarajevo in September 1997 that I attended when I was a 25-year-old student doing fieldwork in the city. I got talking to another foreign visitor who was sitting next to me, a young North American about my age. He told me he preferred women with dark features, so in Sarajevo he was most attracted to the Muslim girls. It was a comment that exemplified the way visitors often…

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The threat of political violence is now at the heart of the MAGA Republican movement

The threat of political violence is now at the heart of the MAGA Republican movement

The Center for American Progress Action Fund reports: The insurrection on January 6, 2021, underscored the growing threat of political violence in the United States. Far from being an isolated incident, American right-wing political violence and domestic terrorism has increased in recent years. Some of this violence comes in the form of mass shootings; some comes in the form of specific threats against politicians and poll workers; and some comes in the form of the insurrectionist riot at the Capitol…

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U.S. calls for end of forced deportations of Ukrainians being sent to Russian concentration camps

U.S. calls for end of forced deportations of Ukrainians being sent to Russian concentration camps

Politico reports: The United States has called on Russia to immediately stop its systematic “filtration” and forced deportation of millions of Ukrainians in territories under Moscow’s control and to allow outside observers access to camps through which they pass. “The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Wednesday. Blinken said Russian authorities have “ interrogated, detained, and forcibly…

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Nature is in crisis. A UN report says short-sighted economics is to blame

Nature is in crisis. A UN report says short-sighted economics is to blame

Grist reports: When governments make decisions, economic considerations often trump everything else — human well-being, social connections, the health of the environment. According to a new report from the United Nations, this imbalance is driving the global biodiversity crisis and the human suffering associated with it. “Despite the diversity of nature’s values,” the report says, “most policymaking approaches have prioritized a narrow set of values at the expense of both nature and society, as well as future generations.” It calls…

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More than 200 congressional staffers urge Pelosi and Schumer to act on climate or risk dooming younger generations

More than 200 congressional staffers urge Pelosi and Schumer to act on climate or risk dooming younger generations

CNN reports: In a rare move, more than 200 congressional staffers have sent a letter to Democratic leadership in the House and Senate, demanding they close the deal on a climate and clean energy package and warning that failure could doom younger generations. “We’ve crafted the legislation necessary to avert climate catastrophe. It’s time for you to pass it,” the staffers wrote in a letter, sent to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday evening….

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Russia’s war against Ukraine has turned into terrorism

Russia’s war against Ukraine has turned into terrorism

Anne Applebaum writes: Red Cross packages are lined up along the sidewalk in Serhiivka, a small town in the southwestern corner of Ukraine. A man is unloading plastic bags stamped WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN from a truck whose front windshield has been completely shattered. On the other side of the plaza, people are sifting through used clothes provided by a Ukrainian charity. Someone points out a mother standing beside two young boys who, miraculously, were not at home the night that…

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Biden to visit a Saudi Arabia that is closer to Russia than ever

Biden to visit a Saudi Arabia that is closer to Russia than ever

The Wall Street Journal reports: As President Biden prepares to visit Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich kingdom is closer than ever to Russia and has no plans to disengage from Moscow or help Washington by pumping more crude, Saudi officials said. The burgeoning partnership between Russia and the Saudis, rooted in their vast petroleum production capacity, has upended an oil-for-security arrangement between Washington and Riyadh that has lasted nearly half a century and been a central fixture of the post-World War…

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Putin set to visit Iran next week

Putin set to visit Iran next week

The Associated Press reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Iran next week, the Kremlin said Tuesday, a day after the U.S. warned that Tehran could provide Moscow with drones for its action in Ukraine. During a trip to Tehran next Tuesday, Putin will attend a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Iran and Turkey, the so-called Astana format of meetings for Syria-related talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Putin’s visit to Iran will follow U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip…

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How Russia is profiting from climate change

How Russia is profiting from climate change

Courtney Dobson writes: On Feb. 24, the Yakov Gakkel, a 3-year-old, ice-class tanker, departed from Montoir Port, France, for Sabetta Port within the Arctic Circle in Russia. For as long as the war in Ukraine has raged on, the Yakov Gakkel has made four return trips to Montoir Port and has since moved on to ports in Spain and Belgium, delivering one of Russia’s principal revenue generators: liquefied natural gas, or LNG. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former chief economic adviser,…

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