Litigation tracker: Pending criminal and civil cases against Donald Trump

Litigation tracker: Pending criminal and civil cases against Donald Trump

Karl Mihm, Jacob Apkon and Sruthi Venkatachalam write: On both the criminal and civil litigation fronts, former President Donald Trump faces a bevy of lawsuits and investigations, with more cases likely to follow. Some are civil suits stemming from his pre-presidential business dealings. Others are defamation claims from women he allegedly assaulted. More still are criminal probes and civil suits, scrutinizing his attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Chart [at Just Security] tracks all these cases….

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Andrew Cuomo’s bullying has finally caught up to him

Andrew Cuomo’s bullying has finally caught up to him

Daniel Marans writes: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) has had a rough couple of weeks. His decision early in the pandemic to force nursing homes to accept COVID-19-positive patients morphed into a national scandal when it emerged that Cuomo’s administration hid the number of deaths in those facilities. A browbeating phone call to Ron Kim, a Democratic state assemblyman, generated a new round of negative headlines about his well-known penchant for bullying. On Wednesday, Lindsey Boylan, a former aide,…

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Biden tells the world ‘America is back.’ The world isn’t so sure

Biden tells the world ‘America is back.’ The world isn’t so sure

The Washington Post reports: For President Biden and his circle, a low point in America’s global standing under President Donald Trump came when he blew up a meeting of U.S. allies in 2018, accusing close partners of “robbing” the United States and hurling insults at his Canadian host. So it was no accident that Biden’s push to reclaim American leadership in recent days has pointedly included a starring role for Canada, as the new administration seeks to woo an array…

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From ‘aliens’ to ‘noncitizens’ – the Biden administration is proposing to change a legal term to recognize the humanity of non-Americans

From ‘aliens’ to ‘noncitizens’ – the Biden administration is proposing to change a legal term to recognize the humanity of non-Americans

If a proposed law passes, this group of immigrants apprehended at the U.S. border near Mission, Texas, would be called ‘noncitizens,’ not ‘aliens.’ Sergio Flores for The Washington Post via Getty Images By Kevin Johnson, University of California, Davis A profound change has been proposed by the Biden administration for U.S. immigration law. Following up on candidate Joe Biden’s promise of immigration reform legislation, the U.S. Citizenship Act would eliminate the term “alien” from the U.S. immigration laws. The country’s…

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It wasn’t just Khashoggi: A Saudi prince’s brutal drive to crush dissent

It wasn’t just Khashoggi: A Saudi prince’s brutal drive to crush dissent

The New York Times reports: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia authorized a secret campaign to silence dissenters — which included the surveillance, kidnapping, detention and torture of Saudi citizens — over a year before the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, according to American officials who have read classified intelligence reports about the campaign. At least some of the clandestine missions were carried out by members of the same team that killed and dismembered Mr. Khashoggi in Istanbul in…

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After dissident vanishes in Canada, Saudi exiles fear they are now in jeopardy

After dissident vanishes in Canada, Saudi exiles fear they are now in jeopardy

The Washington Post reports: The mysterious disappearance last month of a Saudi dissident living in Montreal after visiting the kingdom’s embassy in Ottawa has sent fear rippling across Canada’s community of Saudi exiles. While the gravest concerns were allayed when Ahmed Abdullah al-Harbi, 24, reappeared last week in Saudi Arabia, his fellow activists suspect he was coerced to return to the kingdom and are afraid he is providing Saudi authorities with information that jeopardizes them and their families. These fears…

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‘Blame Trump’ defense in Capitol riot looks like a long shot

‘Blame Trump’ defense in Capitol riot looks like a long shot

The Associated Press reports: While experts say blaming Trump may not get their clients off the hook, it may help at sentencing when they ask the judge for leniency. “It could likely be considered a mitigating factor that this person genuinely believed they were simply following the instructions of the leader of the United States,” said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney in Michigan who’s now a professor at the University of Michigan Law School. It could also bolster any…

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Evolution: lab-grown ‘mini brains’ suggest one mutation might have rewired the human mind

Evolution: lab-grown ‘mini brains’ suggest one mutation might have rewired the human mind

The brains of humans are subtly different from those of Neanderthals. Petr Student/Shutterstock By Itzia Ferrer, Lund University and Per Brattås, Lund University How we humans became what we are today is a question that scientists have been trying to answer for a long time. How did we evolve such advanced cognitive abilities, giving rise to complex language, poetry and rocket science? In what way is the modern human brain different from those of our closest evolutionary relatives, such as…

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The coronavirus is threatening a comeback. Here’s how to stop It

The coronavirus is threatening a comeback. Here’s how to stop It

The New York Times reports: Across the United States, and the world, the coronavirus seems to be loosening its stranglehold. The deadly curve of cases, hospitalizations and deaths has yo-yoed before, but never has it plunged so steeply and so fast. Is this it, then? Is this the beginning of the end? After a year of being pummeled by grim statistics and scolded for wanting human contact, many Americans feel a long-promised deliverance is at hand. Americans will win against…

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Five pandemic mistakes we keep repeating

Five pandemic mistakes we keep repeating

Zeynep Tufekci writes: When the polio vaccine was declared safe and effective, the news was met with jubilant celebration. Church bells rang across the nation, and factories blew their whistles. “Polio routed!” newspaper headlines exclaimed. “An historic victory,” “monumental,” “sensational,” newscasters declared. People erupted with joy across the United States. Some danced in the streets; others wept. Kids were sent home from school to celebrate. One might have expected the initial approval of the coronavirus vaccines to spark similar jubilation—especially…

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The false dilemma of post-vaccination risk

The false dilemma of post-vaccination risk

James Hamblin writes: Every day, more than 1 million American deltoids are being loaded with a vaccine. The ensuing immune response has proved to be extremely effective—essentially perfect—at preventing severe cases of COVID-19. And now, with yet another highly effective vaccine on the verge of approval, that pace should further accelerate in the weeks to come. This is creating a legion of people who no longer need to fear getting sick, and are desperate to return to “normal” life. Yet…

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American cynicism has reached a breaking point

American cynicism has reached a breaking point

Megan Garber writes: On Tuesday evening, at the start of his Fox News show, Tucker Carlson shared the results of an investigation that he and his staff had conducted into a well-known agent of American disinformation. “We spent all day trying to locate the famous QAnon,” Carlson said, “which, in the end, we learned is not even a website. If it’s out there, we could not find it.” They kept looking, though, checking Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Twitter feed and “the…

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How do you recalibrate with a murderer?

How do you recalibrate with a murderer?

Graeme Wood writes: Today the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its report on the murder of the Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi. If the report were the denouement of a dinner-theater murder mystery, most of the audience would be so confident of the conclusion that they would already be walking out to the parking lot. The crown prince ordered it. In the consulate. With the bone saw. Even the Saudi government admits most of these details—with the exception…

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Biden ordered airstrike after determining Iran supported rocket attacks

Biden ordered airstrike after determining Iran supported rocket attacks

The Politico reports: President Joe Biden’s decision to order a U.S. airstrike on a border crossing used by Iran-backed militia groups in eastern Syria on Thursday came after U.S. officials determined Tehran facilitated a series of recent attacks endangering Americans in Iraq, according to defense officials. Planning for a potential military response began soon after Feb. 15, when a dozen rockets targeted coalition forces outside Irbil International Airport, killing one non-U.S. contractor and wounding nine more people, including five Americans,…

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