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☆ Opinion | ‘Ukraine Has Gone Through a Terrible Period’: A Q. and A. With Frederick and Kimberly Kagan
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-30 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

We’re at a crucial moment in the Ukraine war. After Congress’s monthslong delay in approving additional American aid — and the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive last year — Ukraine finds itself on the defensive. I found their observations about what is arguably the most consequential military conflict of the 21st century invaluable. After the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive last year and delays in American aid, we’ve seen Russians make gains on the ground and in the air. Vladimir Putin seems optimistic about the course of the war, and Ukraine is bracing for a new Russian offensive in northeast Ukraine.

Persons: Congress’s, —, Frederick, Kimberly Kagan, David French, we’ve, Vladimir Putin Organizations: American Enterprise, Institute for Locations: Ukraine, Russia, Iraq

☆ Jamie Dimon is worried about how much the US is borrowing. Here’s why
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

New York CNN —Major business leaders and economists are worried about America’s growing debt problem. Last week, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon expressed fear that a crisis is looming and that unchecked deficit spending could explode. The big picture: Between the Trump-era tax cuts and Covid-era stimulus programs, the national debt has exploded in recent years. Trump Media (DJT) reported a loss of $327.6 million during the first three months of the year, compared with a loss of $210,300 a year earlier. The company generated just $770,500 of revenue, marking the second-straight quarter where its revenue totaled less than $1 million.

Persons: Jamie Dimon, ”, ” Dimon, “, Ray Dalio, Columbia Business School Glenn Hubbard, Joe Biden’s, Jason Thomas, Carlyle, ” Thomas, Hanna Ziady, Liz Truss, Treasuries, Hubbard, Thomas, it’s, Donald Trump, Matt Egan, Devin Nunes, Martin Gruenberg, Elisabeth Buchwald, ” Gruenberg, Sen, Sherrod Brown, Gruenberg, He’s, Cleary Gottlieb Steen, Gruenberg’s, Gruenberg Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN —, JPMorgan, Sky News, Financial, Columbia Business School, United, CNN, IMF, Congressional, Office, Peterson Foundation, Treasury, Trump Media, Trump Media & Technology Group, Truth Social, Company, Big Tech, ” Trump Media, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Senate Banking Committee, FDIC, Hamilton Locations: New York, Bridgewater, United States, —, United, United Kingdom

☆ Jamie Dimon and Ray Dalio sound the alarm on soaring US government debt
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

London CNN —The chorus of voices warning about the dangers of record US government debt is growing louder. In the past 24 hours, JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon and Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund, have weighed in with concerns about America’s debt pile. Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, during a Bloomberg Television interview in New York in April 2024. Dimon acknowledged that debt-fueled government spending, including pandemic stimulus, had been one of the reasons behind robust growth in the world’s biggest economy. Debt servicing costs have also soared, on the back of higher official interest rates, leaving less money for public services.

Persons: Jamie Dimon, Ray Dalio, Dimon, you’ll, Dalio, I’m, ”, Victor J, we’ve, ” Dimon, Liz Truss Organizations: London CNN, JPMorgan, Sky News, Treasury, Financial Times, International Monetary Fund, Congressional, Office, Bridgewater Associates, Bloomberg Television, Bloomberg, Getty, Treasury Department, IMF, US, Federal Locations: Russia, New York, America, Covid, United, United Kingdom

☆ Democrats Aim for a Breakthrough for Black Women in the Senate
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Carol Moseley Braun, one of only two Black women to have been elected to the Senate in U.S. history, was in Paris on Wednesday when she was informed that another Black woman, Angela Alsobrooks, had won the Democratic nomination for an open Senate seat in Maryland. “That’s wonderful.”With Ms. Alsobrooks’s come-from-behind victory in Tuesday’s primary, voters in November will most likely have the chance to double the number of Black women ever elected to the Senate. Another Democrat, Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester, is the odds-on favorite to win her party’s nomination in September for an open Senate seat in heavily Democratic Delaware. If both win in November, for the first time, two Black women will serve in Congress’s upper chamber at the same time. Representative Barbara Lee, a seasoned political veteran and an antiwar icon, received barely a glance from the party apparatus this year when she ran for an open Senate seat in California.

Persons: Carol Moseley Braun, Angela Alsobrooks, ”, “, Alsobrooks’s, Lisa Blunt Rochester, “ It’s, Moseley Braun, Kamala Harris, Laphonza Butler, Barbara Lee Organizations: Senate, Democratic, “, Democrat, United States African Development Foundation, Democratic Party Locations: Paris, Maryland, Tuesday’s, Democratic Delaware, Illinois, California

☆ Seeking History in Maryland, and Zombie Campaigns Linger: Primary Takeaways
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Jonathan Weisman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And what about those zombie campaigns in both parties’ presidential races? Nikki Haley had a pretty good night for a candidate who long ago dropped her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Here are four takeaways:In Maryland, a potential history maker beats the money. In a showdown between money and history, history won. Democrats initially were happy to have Mr. Trone as their nominee, knowing they wouldn’t have to spend a dime for him in the general election.

Persons: Nikki Haley, David Trone, Angela Alsobrooks, Ben Cardin, Larry Hogan, Trone Organizations: Republican, Democratic, Maryland Locations: Maryland, West Virginia, Nebraska

☆ Blinken Arrives in Ukraine Amid Russian Military Gains
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Michael Crowley | More About Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken had warned for months that Congress’s delay in approving critically needed U.S. arms would leave Ukraine’s military vulnerable along an eastern battlefront that has been stalemated for months. The U.S. official declined to draw a direct connection between the delayed aid and Russia’s gains near the city of Kharkiv. Mr. Blinken plans to meet with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and other top officials. Mr. Blinken is the first senior Biden official to visit Ukraine since the passage of the congressional aid package. The White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with Mr. Zelensky in Kyiv in late March, before the aid passed.

Persons: Biden, Blinken, Volodymyr Zelensky, Blinken’s, Jake Sullivan, Zelensky, Sullivan Organizations: U.S, Biden, White House, The Financial Locations: Kharkiv, Ukraine, Russia, Kyiv, “

Washington CNN —The Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, cleared out a pro-Palestinian encampment on George Washington University’s campus early Wednesday and arrested 30 protesters there and three others in a separate altercation, Metro Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said. Yet after police cleared the encampment, House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, announced the hearing was canceled and took credit for spurring action. GW’s encampment was set up about two weeks ago in the University Yard, a grassy square on campus surrounded by a food hall and university buildings. Officers deployed pepper spray three timesPeople listen as activists and students protest near an encampment at University Yard, George Washington University on April 28, in Washington, DC. Ahmed El Masry, a demonstrator at the GW encampment, said he left the encampment at about 2 a.m. but rushed back about two hours later when he heard police were working to clear the space.

Persons: George Washington, Pamela A, Smith, Muriel Bowser, James Comer, Mayor Bowser, ” Comer, Ellen Granberg, “, Kent Nishimura, Jeffery Carroll, GW, ” GW, Ahmed El Masry, ”, …, “ I’m, we’ve, ” Dante O’Hara, ” O’Hara, –, Joyce F, Brown, spokespeople, ” Brown, Chancellor Javier Reyes, George Floyd, Pam Smith Organizations: Washington CNN, The Metropolitan Police Department, Metro Police, Washington, Republican, Police, University Yard, MPD, Yard, George Washington University, GW Police, ”, Police Department’s, DC, Coalition, UMass, Amherst, CNN, Fashion Institute of Technology, University of Massachusetts, NYPD, Massachusetts Daily Collegian, University of Massachusetts Police Department, DC Metropolitan Police Locations: Washington , DC, Kentucky, Gaza, Israel, “, GWU, New York City, Amherst

☆ Video targeting Muslims faces India police probe as critics accuse Modi’s party of divisive election campaign
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —Police in southern India are investigating a senior leader of the country’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a campaign video targeting Muslims, as critics accuse Prime Minister Narendra Modi of running an increasingly divisive election. The party has long denied being anti-Islam but opposition politicians and prominent Muslims have warned that its leaders have been deploying openly divisive rhetoric to turbo-charge their campaign. The video was removed Wednesday after a request to X from India’s Election Commission to take it down. Modi’s speech ignited widespread anger among Muslim leaders and opposition politicians and calls for election authorities to investigate. BJP party spokespeople subsequently said Modi was talking about undocumented migrants.

Persons: Narendra Modi, Vijayendra, “, Rahul Gandhi, Critics, Manickam Tagore, ”, Modi’s, Modi, –, spokespeople, Rana Ayyub Organizations: CNN — Police, Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, CNN, India’s, Times Locations: India, Karnataka, Congress, Rajasthan, Islam

☆ 10 Years, 100 Stories: The Work That Defines the Upshot
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-27 | by ( The Upshot Staff | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +20 min

Ten years ago this week, The New York Times introduced the Upshot, a section devoted to explaining “politics, policy and everyday life.” That’s a wide scope, by design. As a result, more than 5,000 articles later, the Upshot has been many things to many readers. To mark our 10th birthday, we’ve collected 100 stories that embody the Upshot. WordleBot Eden Weingart/The New York Times When Wordle first became popular, several people on the internet claimed, plausibly, that they had come up with the “best” opening word. Force of Ship Impact Was on the Scale of a Rocket Launch Erin Schaff/The New York Times We think of the Upshot as a place where back-of-the-envelope calculations can be both helpful and welcome.

Persons: ”, Nate Cohn’s, we’ve, Kevin Quealy, John Branch, John, Patrick Thomas, tut, Trump, pollsters, Obamacare, Leif Parsons, We’re, Jason Henry, Tony Luong, Jordan, ‘, Ruth Fremson, Laurel, ’ Rodrigo Corral, Alex Welsh, Paul Romer, Tim Enthoven, Barack Obama, epidemiologists, It’s, you’re, WordleBot Eden, Wordle, Lila Barth, McCabe, Tom Brady, ChatGPT, —, Erin Schaff Organizations: New York Times, Facebook, Yankees, Red, State Newspaper, ESPN, The Athletic, The Times, You’re, Voters, Trump, Mr, Times, Siena College, Walmart, The New York Times, Jordan Siemens, Health, New, Nike, Democratic, Twitter, America, Iowa, Iowa Democratic, Cancer, Hit, Biden, Insurance, Roe America, Disorders, Republican, Republican Party of, U.S, Budget, NASA, National, Traffic, Administration, Yorkers, Force Locations: It’s, Red Sox, State, America, Dakota, Ireland, Chipotle, Japan, U.S, United States, Siena, New Pennsylvania, District, Iowa, Covid, York City, New York, Pennsylvania, Roe, Tonga, Arizona, York, Holland

☆ ‘Our artillery is starving:’ Ukraine holds its breath as US set to approve $60bn of military aid
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-22 | by ( Andy Carey | Tim Lister | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The Ukraine aid bill, passed in the United States’ House of Representatives on Saturday, is now due to go to the Senate on Tuesday. At the top: artillery shells and air defense systems. “To win, we need ammunition… our artillery is starving,” an artillery reconnaissance commander with the 110th mechanized brigade, callsign “Teren,” told CNN after the vote on Saturday. While Ocheretyne itself is of no strategic value, it sits on a ridge, making it a desirable military target. “We need front-line air defense as much as we need protection for our cities and villages,” Zelensky said.

Persons: Joe Biden, ”, Volodymyr Zelensky, “, Teren, Velyka, Patrick Ryder, we’ve, Mark Warner, Chasiv Yar, Rob Lee, Russian Su, Anatolii Stepanov, ” Zelensky, Dmytro Kuleba, ” Kuleba, CNN’s Andy Carey, Victoria Butenko, Daria Tarasova, Svitlana Vlasova Organizations: Ukraine CNN —, United States ’, 110th, CNN, Ukraine’s Eastern Command, Pentagon, US Department of Defense, Senate Intelligence, CBS News, Sunday, –, Kremlin, Nazi, Getty, Patriot, Tactical Missile Systems, Warner, US, Ukrainian Locations: Kyiv, Ukraine, Russia, United, Russian, Avdiivka, Donetsk, Germany, Poland, Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk, Chasiv, Nazi Germany, AFP

☆ Time Is Running Out for Rahul Gandhi’s Vision for India
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Samanth Subramanian | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The crush of people at the rally was suffocating, although in India a crowd is no index of popularity. At 53, with a well-salted beard and serious eyes, he’s too old to be called Congress’s “scion,” but he still wears the sheen of dynasty. Then, on the heels of several corruption scandals, the mighty party — 140 years old next year — came unstuck. One of Modi’s successes has been not just to trounce the Congress Party but also to persuade people that the party has weakened India and emasculated its Hindus. (Amnesty itself halted its work in India in 2020, in the midst of what it later called an “incessant witch hunt” by the government.)

Persons: —, Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira, Rajiv, Sonia, Modi, ” Organizations: Congress, Party, Amnesty, World Press Locations: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Russia

☆ Israeli Weapon Damaged Iranian Air Defenses Without Being Detected, Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Farnaz Fassihi | Ronen Bergman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

Some Democrats are fine sending defensive weapons to Israel, but want to see some limits on offensive weapons, which could be used against civilians in Gaza. But progressive Democrats estimated that 40 to 60 members of their party may oppose it on the House floor on Saturday. The legislation would allocate $5 billion to Israel’s defense capabilities and $9 billion for “worldwide humanitarian aid,” including for civilians in Gaza. “To give Netanyahu more offensive weapons at this stage, I believe, is to condone the destruction of Gaza that we’ve seen in the last six months. But they see a “no” vote as part of a strategy to pressure Mr. Biden to condition aid and halt future offensive weapons transfers.

Persons: Biden, ’, Pramila Jayapal, Joaquin Castro, We’re, Mr, Benjamin Netanyahu’s, ”, Ro Khanna, Netanyahu, Nancy Pelosi, Mike Johnson, —, Becca Balint, “, it’s, Lloyd Doggett, Doggett, Ms, Balint, Dan Kildee, Greg Casar Organizations: Democrats, Democratic, “, Congressional Progressive Caucus, ”, Democrat, Israel, Democratic Party, Republican, Republicans, Texas Democrat, White House, Michigan Democrat Locations: Israel, Gaza, Iraq, Washington, Texas, Ukraine, Taiwan, United States, Rafah, Iran, California, Yemen, Louisiana, Vermont, U.S, American

☆ Liberal Democrats Urge ‘No’ Vote on Israel Aid to Pressure Biden on Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Kayla Guo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A group of left-leaning House Democrats is urging its colleagues to oppose the $26 billion aid package for Israel expected to pass on Saturday, hoping to maximize the number of “no” votes from the party in a bid to send a warning to President Biden about the depth of discontent in his political coalition over his support for Israel’s tactics in Gaza. Framing the upcoming vote as a make-or-break moral choice akin to Congress’s votes to authorize and fund the Iraq war, progressive leaders in the House are working to muster a sizable bloc of Democratic opposition to the aid measure, which is all but certain to become law in the coming days. “In the wake of those votes, people came around much, much later and said, ‘We shouldn’t have allowed that to go forward,’” Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said of the decades-ago debate over Iraq. “And I think that this is that moment.”Representative Joaquin Castro, Democrat of Texas, called it a “defining vote,” adding, “We’re either going to participate in the carnage, or we’re not.”

Persons: Biden, ’, Pramila Jayapal, Joaquin Castro, We’re, ” Organizations: Democrats, Israel, Democratic, “, Congressional Progressive Caucus, ”, Democrat Locations: Gaza, Iraq, Washington, Texas

☆ Live Updates: Muted Reactions to Israeli Strikes on Iran Hint at De-Escalation
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-18 | by ( Alissa J. Rubin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

☆ Opinion | What the O.J. Trial Taught America About Domestic Violence
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Rachel Louise Snyder | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For years now, I’ve had advocates who work with survivors of domestic violence tell me that two events in 1994 changed entirely the landscape for victims’ services in their field: the passage of the Violence Against Women Act and the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson. In fact, many advocates cite her death in June of that year as instrumental in Congress’s prioritizing the passage of the Violence Against Women Act that September, which in turn authorized the creation of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. Simpson trial. It was the first time many Americans were even made aware of the domestic violence services offered in their own backyards. Yet it’s worth taking a moment to remember the ways his case, even in light of the outcome, had profound and lasting consequences for domestic violence victims, for their advocates and for court systems.

Persons: I’ve, Nicole Brown Simpson, hotlines, Simpson, Brown, Ron Goldman’s —

Apple | Spotify | Amazon | YouTube Listen and follow ‘Hard Fork’This week, the companies building artificial intelligence are facing a limit to what training data is publicly available on the internet. Will that stop them from building God? Then, a new bipartisan national privacy law proposal just dropped. We ask what’s in it. And finally, ByteDance is building new apps instead of fighting Congress’s TikTok ban.

Persons: Congress’s Organizations: Apple, Spotify, YouTube

☆ US debt: Is America at risk of a Liz Truss-style market meltdown? The CBO thinks so
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-26 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

In an interview with the Financial Times, CBO director Phillip Swagel said US government debt — which the Treasury Department puts at nearly $35 trillion — is on an “unprecedented” trajectory. UK government bonds, or gilts, and the pound sold off sharply, partly in response to plans by Truss to issue more debt in order to pay for tax cuts. Mortgage rates and other borrowing costs soared as investors demanded much higher premiums for owning UK debt. He has promised to extend his 2017 tax cuts and has also spoken about reducing the corporate tax rate from the current 21% to 15%. “I will make the Trump tax cuts the largest tax cut in history,” he said last month at the Black Conservative Federation’s Honors Gala in South Carolina.

Persons: Phillip Swagel, Liz, ”, Truss, ” Swagel, Dave Ramsden, Donald Trump’s, Joe Biden, Fitch, “, Trump Organizations: London CNN, Congressional, Financial Times, Treasury Department, CNN, Bank of England, Democrats, Trump, Black Conservative, US Treasury, Federal, CBO Locations: United States, United Kingdom, South Carolina

☆ Avdiivka: Ukraine’s defeat darkens the mood in the West
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Nick Paton Walsh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Traveling from the Munich Security Conference towards Ukraine’s frontlines, the polite frustration and manicured pleas of Western leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky feel yet more desperate. Ukrainian soldiers of Brigade 71 fire artillery in the direction of Avdiivka on February 18, 2024. Latvia’s president spoke of “murder,” Germany’s defense minister of how the death showed Russia was “willing and able to provoke” the West. Tobias Schwarz/ReutersIn and of itself, the Ukrainian defeat Avdiivka does not herald a sea change in Kyiv’s fortunes. Instead they may face larger existential questions about providing a lot more help, very urgently, to stop Ukraine’s war becoming Europe’s.

Persons: Ukraine’s frontlines, Volodymyr Zelensky, Diego Herrera Carcedo, Alexey Navalny, Putin, ”, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Zelensky –, –, Tobias Schwarz, Avdiivka, Bakhmut, —, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Oleksandr Syrsky —, Zelensky, ’, Tucker Carlson, Kostiantyn, Zaluzhnyi Organizations: CNN, Munich, Ukraine’s, Ukrainian, United States Congress, Brigade, Getty, Trump, NATO, Republican, Reuters, European Union Locations: Europe, Ukraine, Avdiivka, Anadolu, Russia, West, Munich, Germany, Moscow, Kyiv, Kupiansk, Kharkiv, Russian, Poland, frontlines, North Korea

☆ Group of Democrats call on Blinken to provide answers on bypassing Congress to approve arms sales to Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Jennifer Hansler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A group of 19 predominantly Democratic lawmakers is calling on Secretary of State Antony Blinken to provide answers about why he bypassed Congress last month to approve arms sales to Israel. The top US diplomat made two emergency determinations in December to immediately approve the transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in military equipment to Israel. In their letter, the lawmakers noted the rarity of administrations using emergency declarations to immediately approve arms sales without congressional approval. “Use of a national emergency waiver does not exempt the U.S. government from assessing whether arms sales are consistent with” those standards, they wrote. I would say that the process that the secretary followed and the process that we follow here at the State Department is the process that the law actually prescribed,” Miller said at a State Department briefing.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Blinken, Joe Biden, Independent Sen, Bernie Sanders, Democratic Sens, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley, Peter Welch, James McGovern, Earl Blumenauer, Joaquin Castro, Judy Chu, Raúl, Pramila Jayapal, Barbara Lee, Betty McCollum, Chellie Pingree, Mark Pocan, Delia Ramirez, Jan Schakowsky, Jill Tokuda, Maxine Waters, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Leahy, credibly, “ Israel, ”, ’, “, Matt Miller, ” Miller Organizations: CNN, UN, Independent, Democratic, State Department, Leahy, ”, Department Locations: Israel, Gaza, Hamas

☆ Former Trump adviser Peter Navarro sentenced to 4 months in jail for defying congressional subpoena
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-25 | by ( Devan Cole | Holmes Lybrand | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Washington CNN —Peter Navarro was sentenced Thursday to four months in jail for contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena related to the congressional investigation into the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack. Each count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of one month in prison, but prosecutors had asked Mehta to sentence Navarro to six months for each count – running concurrently – and fine him $200,000. Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was convicted in 2022 on two contempt counts and later sentenced to four months in prison. The Justice Department used its testimony to make the case that the committee had good reason to subpoena Navarro and that he was informed repeatedly of its demands. Navarro has insisted that he didn’t comply with the subpoena at the direction of Trump, who he claimed invoked executive privilege in the matter.

Persons: Washington CNN — Peter Navarro, Navarro, Amit Mehta, “, ”, ” Mehta, Trump, Mehta, stonewalled, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, Elizabeth Aloi, Navarro “ Organizations: Washington CNN, Trump, DC, Appeals, Capitol, Justice Department, Prosecutors Locations: Navarro

☆ Palestinian ‘Pay for Slay’ Keeps Growing
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Images: AP/Reuters Composite: Mark KellyRecently we told you that Palestinian Authority law requires the Oct. 7 terrorists to be compensated financially for a massacre well done. Now the PA has taken steps toward making that a reality. It acted just in time for Secretary of State Antony Blinken ’s visit to Ramallah. Last Wednesday’s Al-Hayat Al-Jadida , the PA’s newspaper and mouthpiece, announced 23,210 additional “martyrs,” using the Hamas-supplied Gaza casualty figure that includes every dead Hamas terrorist. The PA pays a one-time lump sum plus a monthly stipend for life to the families of any “martyr” killed attacking Israel or in a confrontation with Israel.

Persons: Mark Kelly, Antony Blinken ’, Al, Hayat Al, ”, Israel Organizations: Reuters, Palestinian Locations: Ramallah, Last, Gaza, Israel

Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma has taken on one of Congress’s most thankless and politically risky jobs: leading negotiations to overhaul the country’s immigration laws. Democrats and Republicans agree that a fix is overdue—the last major changes were passed in 1986. Past rounds of talks have gotten nowhere because the issue is so charged and the system so legally complex that any rewrites of the law risk cascading and unintended effects. Now Lankford is one of a trio of senators taking another crack at it, as migrant apprehensions at the Southern U.S. border hit a record 250,000 a month.

Persons: Sen, James Lankford of Organizations: Southern Locations: James Lankford of Oklahoma, Southern U.S

Persons: Sen, James Lankford of Organizations: Southern Locations: James Lankford of Oklahoma, Southern U.S

☆ Supreme Court Wary of Remaking Income Tax
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Jess Bravin | Richard Rubin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Supreme Court doesn’t take many cases about the scope of federal taxing power. Photo: Shawn Thew/ShutterstockWASHINGTON—The Supreme Court looked unlikely to impose strict new limits on Congress’s power to tax income, with some conservative and liberal justices alike signaling wariness about upending long-settled principles of the federal tax code. Tuesday’s arguments involved a relatively small payment required by a one-time charge under the 2017 tax overhaul. Challengers are seeking a ruling limiting income that can be taxed to money “realized” by taxpayers—that is, cash they receive or in some fashion control, as opposed to a mere increase in the value of their holdings.

Persons: Shawn Thew, WASHINGTON —, “ Organizations: WASHINGTON

Just this week, the SEC sued Kraken, another crypto exchange, alleging that it is operating as an unregistered securities exchange. Binance is exiting the US as part of the agreement the crypto exchange made with law enforcement agencies. That also includes the Justice Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission , and the Treasury Department. There is even a National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team within the Justice Department actively identifying and investigating criminal cases involving digital assets. That is precisely how the feds secured the first ever corporate settlement with a crypto exchange.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Zhao, Binance, Brian Armstrong, Coinbase, ” Armstrong, “, General Merrick Garland, ” Changpeng Zhao, Anthony Kwan, cryptocurrencies, ethereum, Bitcoin, ’, it’s, Ethereum, Treasury Department —, Kraken, Tiffany Hagler, ” Garland, Lisa Monaco, Tuesday’s presser, “ I’ve, Benham Organizations: New, New York CNN, Justice Department, Bloomberg, Getty, Washington DC, US Department of Justice, Department of Justice, Treasury, Securities and Exchange Commission, Treasury Department, SEC, Geard, Futures Trading Commission, Cryptocurrency, feds Locations: New York, United States, Binance, Washington, U.S, “, rulemaking

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