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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will host Indonesian President Joko Widodo at the White House on Monday, one day before the U.S. leader leaves for San Francisco to attend a summit of Asian leaders. The two presidents will share an afternoon tea and meet with top advisers, according to senior administration officials who insisted on anonymity to preview the schedule. They will also talk about ways to expand the trade of critical minerals like nickel, which can be used to produce electric vehicle batteries. Widodo will be arriving in the U.S. after making a previous stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for a summit of Muslim leaders. The official said Biden would seek to have Widodo “play a larger role” in the Middle East, although it was unclear exactly what that would entail.

Persons: Joe Biden, Joko Widodo, Karine Jean, Pierre, ”, Widodo, Xi Jinping, Kamala Harris, Biden Organizations: WASHINGTON, White, San, Economic Cooperation, United, Hamas Locations: U.S, San Francisco, Indonesia, Asia, India, United States, Southeast Asia, The U.S, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Gaza, Israel

☆ Biden Confronts the Limits of U.S. Leverage in Two Conflicts
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( David E. Sanger | More About David E. Sanger | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

After four weeks of terror and retaliation in Israel and Gaza, and 20 months of war in Ukraine, President Biden is confronting the limits of his leverage in the two international conflicts defining his presidency. Mr. Netanyahu rebuffed Mr. Biden’s push for greater efforts to avoid civilian casualties in a phone call on Monday. Many of Mr. Biden’s aides agree that Ukraine and Russia are dug in, unable to move the front lines of the battle in any significant way. In both cases, Mr. Biden’s influence over how his allies prosecute those wars seems far more constrained than expected, given his central role as the supplier of arms and intelligence. “Hamas and Putin represent different threats,” he said that evening, “but they share this in common: They both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy — completely annihilate it.”

Persons: Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Mr, Biden’s, ”, Valery Zaluzhny, Zaluzhny’s candor, Vladimir V, Putin, Donald J, Trump, Ukraine’s, Seth Moulton, “ Hamas, — Organizations: Massachusetts Democrat, Marine Locations: Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Russia, United States, Massachusetts, Iraq, “

The practice of citizen-originated ballot measures began 125 years ago when South Dakota became the first in the nation to enact a statewide initiative and referendum process. But some still invoke his name in their fight to preserve voters’ ballot measure rights. “It represents for me the fundamental idea of the equal dignity of every human being,” said Heidelberger, who blogs about South Dakota politics. The political conditions were brief but just right in 1897 for lawmakers to approve it; voters passed it the following year. In a memoir compiled by the state Socialist Party, Haire is credited with writing the amendment itself.

Persons: it’s, Robert W, Cory Heidelberger, ”, Heidelberger, Pierre, Haire, Ohioans, “ That’s, John Matsusaka, “, can’t, ” Matsusaka, ” David Schmidt, Drey Samuelson, Sen, Tim Johnson of, you’re, Samuelson, Janine Giordano Drake, Republican State Sen, Michael Rohl, Rohl, ’, Rohl didn’t, Sister Kathleen Bierne, Drake, ” Drake, Bierne, “ We’ve, Father Haire’s, Jesus ’, Eugene Debs, Liz May, Tom Heinz, Heinz, ain’t Organizations: Republican, Socialist Party, it’s, University of Southern California’s Initiative, Referendum, “ Citizen, U.S, Indiana University, Christian Socialist, Catholic, Republican State, Associated Press, Michigan, Aberdeen News, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: U.S, Ohio, South Dakota, Dakotans, Dakota, California, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, state’s, Brown, Aberdeen

But that outburst of direct democracy has been limited to just half the states. About 167 million people live in 25 other states where such direct democracy is not currently an option. The number of ballot measures seeking to restrict the initiative and referendum process dipped in 2016 and has since risen. Measures seeking to restrict direct democracy peaked from 1995 to 2004 but significantly outpaced those seeking to expand direct democracy throughout the entire period of 1960 through 2022. Californians have considered 391 ballot initiatives — approving 137 of them — following campaigns that in recent years have cost tens of millions of dollars.

Persons: ”, John Matsusaka, Daniel Smith, Todd Donovan, that's, it's, Matsusaka, Michael Smith, ” Donovan, It's, it’s, ” Matsusaka Organizations: Initiative, University of Southern, South, University of Florida, Western Washington University, REPUBLICAN PUSHBACK Republican, Republican, Democratic, BIG, Oregon, Voters, Emporia State University, Referendum Locations: Maine, Ohio, University of Southern California, South Dakota, Mississippi, Alaska, Wyoming, Illinois, Florida, Arizona , Arkansas , Ohio, Arizona, Oregon, California, Kansas

☆ Opinion | Speaker Mike Johnson’s Rise: ‘The Republicans Have Elevated an Extremist’
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “G.O.P. Elects Speaker, Ending Bitter Feud” (front page, Oct. 26):Our nation flails on the brink of disaster now that the Republicans have elevated an extremist to the honorable position of House speaker. A Times online newsletter article says all we need to know about Mike Johnson: “His elevation now places a socially conservative lawyer who opposes abortion rights and same-sex marriage, and who played a leading role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, second in line to the presidency.”Citizens of this great nation should fear this election-denying, rights-resisting, bigotry-promoting zealot. This turn of events underscores the importance of getting out the vote. May the universe and all things holy protect our republic from doom.

Persons: Mike Johnson, Corinne Corley Isleton, Joe Biden, Donald Trump Organizations: Republicans, ”, people’s Locations: Calif

☆ The Debate Over How Dangerous Trump Rages On - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

As the parties have grown racially, religiously, and socially distant from one another, a new kind of social discord has been growing. The increasing political divide has allowed political, public, electoral, and national norms to be broken with little to no consequence. Institutions that empower partisan minorities can become instruments of minority rule. And they are especially dangerous when they are in the hands of extremist or antidemocratic partisan minorities. Its political system spreads power out very broadly, in ways that give many individual players the power to stop things.

Persons: Lilliana Mason, Johns Hopkins, Trump, ”, Steven Levitsky, Daniel Ziblatt, “ Vetocracy, ” Francis Fukuyama, Stanford’s, Fukuyama, ” Fukuyama Organizations: American, Harvard, Constitution, Global, Politics Today, Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, House Republicans Locations: America, U.S

☆ Opinion: Trump and the upside-down world
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-01 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. CNN —The title on the cover of Cass R. Sunstein’s 2021 book, “This is not normal,” is printed upside down. The beginning of a Trump-backed House Republican inquiry into impeaching President Joe Biden with no clear evidence of his wrongdoing. A last-ditch move Saturday kept federal agencies funded for 45 days while putting more aid to Ukraine in jeopardy. Bill Bramhall/Tribune Content AgencyOn Monday, a New York judge found Trump and his adult sons liable for insurance and bank fraud and canceled the Trump Organization’s business certification.

Persons: Cass R, ” Sunstein, Ronald Reagan, “ Donald Duck, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Trump, “, ”, Kevin McCarthy’s, Clay Jones, Mike Lawler, Rosa Cruz, Rob Rosenthal, Brian Riedl, Walt Handelsman, Biden, MAGA, John Avlon, ’, Bill Bramhall, Frida Ghitis, —, Ghitis, Phil Hands, Julian Zelizer, Steven Lubet, Judge Chutkan, Dean Obeidallah, Menendez, Hal Boyd, Sen, Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis, Scott, ” Scott, Lyndon, “ you’ve, ” Jeff Yang, Chris Christie’s, ‘, Donald Duck ’, Mike Pence’s, Walter Mondale, Nikki Haley’s, South Carolina Sen, Vivek Ramaswamy, TikTok, whittling, Haley, ” Sophia Nelson, ” Lisa Benson, GoComics.com, James Antle III, Todd Graham, David Axelrod, Musa al, Republicans –, –, Nick Anderson, Agency Cassidy, Evelyn Hockstein, Cassidy Hutchinson, Nicole Hemmer, Hutchinson, …, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Liz Cheney, Alexander Butterfield, Melissa S, Jason L, Riley, Jill Filipovic’s, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Peter Bergen, Kennedy, Vladimir Putin, Brian Bowen Smith, ABC Gerry Turner, Deborah Carr, Gerry Turner, Turner, ” Don’t, Jill Filipovic, Dianne Feinstein, Matthew F, West Point Vincent, David A, Adam Larson, Michael D, Smith, Travis, Taylor Dana Summers, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, ” Rick Reilly, Colgate, Tay, Frankie de la, it’s Organizations: CNN, Republican, Ronald Reagan Presidential, Trump, Chiefs, Department of Labor, Wesleyan University, Agency, MAGA Republican, Pew Research Center, NBC, Republicans, GOP, “, Florida Gov, New, New Jersey Gov, Democratic, UAW, Tribune, White House, Legislative Affairs, White, Street, ” RFK, ABC, Chicago, Corps, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, Washington Post, NFL Locations: Milwaukee, Simi Valley , California, Ukraine, New York, Washington, Tempe , Arizona, New Jersey, Cupp, South Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Michigan , Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Gharbi, West Point

☆ Biden to deliver speech on democracy, legacy of Sen. John McCain in Arizona
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden is set to deliver a speech Thursday in Phoenix, Arizona, on the state of democracy and to honor his late friend, Republican Sen. John McCain. It is the fourth such speech on democracy Biden has made during his presidency, the first of which was delivered on the first anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Biden is set to say that McCain was representative of the old guard of Republicans and was willing to put his country over his party. The friendship continued after McCain lost the 2008 presidential contest to Barack Obama, whose vice president was Biden. "Not every Republican — not even the majority of Republicans — adhere to the extremist MAGA ideology," Biden plans to say.

Persons: Joe Biden, Walter E, Republican Sen, John McCain, Biden, MAGA, Donald Trump, McCain, Barack Obama, Republican —, Republicans —, I've Organizations: Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Washington Convention Center, Washington , D.C, Republican, Capitol, Arizona State University, McCain Institute, American, McCain, Democratic, White, House, Trump, Senate, Republicans, Republican Party, American Democracy, GOP House Locations: Washington ,, Phoenix , Arizona, America, New York, California

He later addressed supporters outside a boat manufacturing facility, where he showed off a slew of new South Carolina endorsements, including from the state's attorney general, its secretary of state, its House majority leader and other members of the South Carolina House of Representatives. While his rivals have been busy holding town halls and visiting local diners, Trump has spent much of the last months responding to his mounting legal troubles. Beyond his complaints with the press, Trump lashed out at Mark Milley, the retiring chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, over phone calls he made to China in the final stormy months of Trump’s presidency. But Trump on Friday claimed Milley had committed “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! Ambassador and current GOP rival Nikki Haley, a native of South Carolina, calling her “Birdbrain."

Persons: Donald Trump ramped, Glock, Trump, Joe, ” Trump, Mark Milley, Milley, “, ”, —, Mitch McConnell, ’, New Jersey Sen, Bob Menendez, Lockheed Martin, Nikki Haley, Howard Stern, Michelle Price Organizations: Republican, South Carolina House of, GOP, Trump, NBC, MSNBC, Fake News Media, Joint Chiefs of Staff, USA, Democratic, New, Strike Fighter, U.S . Air Force, Lockheed, Boeing, ___ Associated Locations: SUMMERVILLE, S.C, South Carolina, Summerville, Carolina, Michigan, China, United States, U.S, New Jersey, Columbia, New York

☆ Opinion: The Netanyahu government’s next target: Israel’s free press
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Dan Perry | Gilead Sher | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

A cornerstone of those shared values is both countries’ historic commitments to a free press. Israel’s journalism, as in the United States, is freewheeling and independent, and reporters are famously skeptical and often critical of any government. Gilead Sher Courtesy Gilead SherAs in the United States, Israeli governments have always viewed a free press as inviolate because of the central role it plays in upholding democracy and fostering government transparency and accountability — until now. Missed so far, however, in most mainstream US news, are the government’s initiatives to erode Israel’s free press and gradually turn Israeli media into government propaganda vehicles. And indeed, as already stated, Netanyahu’s government has targeted much more than the free press.

Persons: Dan Perry, Gilead Sher, Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden, Netanyahu, Gilead, Biden, Donald Trump, Viktor Orban, Orban, Israel Organizations: London, Associated Press, Israeli, CNN, UN, Assembly, BBC, Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, MSNBC, Fox News, Hungarian Locations: Cairo, Europe, Africa, Israel, United States, New York, America

☆ Here are 11 top moments from Trump's 'Meet the Press' interview
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Allan Smith | Jonathan Allen | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

Former President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with NBC News' Kristen Welker, Sept. 14, 2023. NBC News has also extended an invitation to President Joe Biden to sit down with Welker for an interview. "I said, 'Other than certain parts of the country, you can't — you're not going to win on this issue. "And both sides are going to come together and both sides — both sides, and this is a big statement — both sides will come together. But when Welker asked if he might grant himself a reprieve if he wins this election, Trump declined to rule it out.

Persons: Donald Trump, Kristen Welker, Donald Trump sparred, Joe Biden, Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Danny Masterson, Welker, Trump, Roe, Wade, he's, —, it's, pardoning, I'm, Jan, Biden Trump, Biden, Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy, Ukraine Trump, Putin, Vladimir Putin, I'd, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Franklin Roosevelt Organizations: NBC News, Press, NBC, GOP, Trump, U.S ., Republican, White House, Capitol, Florida Gov Locations: Bedminster , New Jersey, Ukraine, Alabama, Pennsylvania, U.S, Russia, Florida, Taiwan

☆ Pelosi says Trump 'projects onto others' his own blame for January 6: 'There's a sickness here'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Nancy Pelosi on Sunday pushed back against Trump, who blamed her for January 6. The former president falsely claimed Pelosi rejected a request for troops to protect the Capitol. "There's a sickness here," Pelosi said, accusing Trump of projection. "His instigation of an insurrection... the assault on the Capitol building, the assault on the Constitution, the assault on our democracy — shame on him." There's a sickness here and there has to be an intervention.

Persons: Nancy Pelosi, Pelosi, Trump, Donald Trump, Christopher Miller, Joe Biden's, Chuck Schumer, — Organizations: Sunday, Trump, Service, White, California Democrat, MSNBC, NBC, National Guard, Capitol Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Opinion: Why GOP’s impeachment impulse will backfire with independents
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

With a five-vote margin in the House — and 18 House GOP members representing districts President Joe Biden won — the math just doesn’t work. The impeachment of President Andrew Johnson during Reconstruction and the impeachment inquiry into President Richard Nixon for Watergate were separated by more than a century. The impeachment of President Bill Clinton and the double impeachment of President Donald Trump were separated by a little more than 20 years. The only silver lining in this dark cloud over the Biden White House comes from independents’ take on the alternative. As our colleague Harry Enten points out, just 33% of independents think Biden did something illegal, according to a recent Fox News poll.

Persons: John Avlon, “, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kevin McCarthy, McCarthy, Joe Biden, Trump, Biden, Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Hunter, Biden’s, “ Trump, ”, Harry Enten, Nikki Haley, Haley, Cornel West, lionize Organizations: CNN, GOP, Republicans, Reconstruction, Biden, ’, Trump, ” Independent, Fox, Twitter, Green, Party Locations: “ Lincoln, America, CNN’s

☆ What Biden Can Learn from Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Diana B. Henriques | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” helped raise America’s economy out of the Great Depression in the 1930s and set the country on course to become a superpower. And now, for the first time in decades, we have someone in the White House who has a new New Deal within his grasp. President Biden’s infrastructure investment bill echoes Roosevelt’s expansive public works projects; his vocal support for organized labor, his targeted debt relief efforts and his plans to strengthen domestic high-tech manufacturing evoke other Roosevelt priorities. The Inflation Reduction Act, too, includes money to bolster public infrastructure and address climate change, both goals Roosevelt most likely would have embraced, given his support for public works and conservation. The most significant hole in the New Deal analogy: financial reform.

Persons: Franklin D, Roosevelt’s, ”, Roosevelt Organizations: White House, Mutual, Securities and Exchange Commission

☆ Opinion: Iranian women know which battles to fight. They’ve been doing it for decades
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Mahnaz Afkhami | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Editor’s note: Mahnaz Afkhami was the minister of women’s affairs in Iran’s government before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Her most recent book is “The Other Side of Silence: A Memoir of Exile, Iran, and the Global Women’s Movement,” published by the University of North Carolina Press. Iranian women have been deprived of the rights that they know and for which they have worked. This may be the first women-led counterrevolution in history — and it’s one in which men and women have participated together. Join us on Twitter and FacebookIn every area of endeavor that does not need government engagement, the women of Iran have succeeded.

Persons: Mahnaz Afkhami, ”, CNN —, Mahsa, Mahnaz, Mahsa Amini, Ruhollah Khomeini, “, Mohammad Khatami’s, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Organizations: Women’s Learning, Foundation, Iranian Studies, Global, University of North Carolina Press, CNN, Getty, Green Movement, Protesters, Twitter, Facebook, Islamic Locations: Iran, Kurdish Iranian, Islamic Republic, Tehran, Qom

☆ Opinion | Catch the Smug Mug on That Thug!
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Maureen Dowd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON — If there were any justice in the world, Donald Trump would have taken the Mug Shot of Dorian Gray. As with Oscar Wilde’s charismatic and amoral narcissist, the Picture of Donald Trump should have been a “foul parody,” a reflection of what the chancer has done with his life. It should have revealed a man so cynical and depraved that he is willing to smash our nation’s soul — our democracy — and destroy faith in our institutions. “Through some strange quickening of inner life the leprosies of sin were slowly eating the thing away,” Wilde wrote of Dorian’s portrait. “The rotting of a corpse in a watery grave was not so fearful.”

Persons: WASHINGTON, Donald Trump, Dorian Gray ., Oscar Wilde’s, narcissist, ” Wilde, ”

☆ Opinion: A powerful weapon for prosecutors is now in the hands of Fani Willis
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +18 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. In the US, prosecutors are given enormous power to apply the law as they see fit, choosing who to charge and what to charge them with. Evidence of their misdeeds can secure convictions and allow for strict sentences that otherwise couldn’t be imposed. Bill Bramhall/Tribune Content AgencyThe 97-page indictment unveiled by Willis last week cites a lot more evidence than could be arrayed against a sandwich served at lunch. “We are the chief law enforcement officers in each jurisdiction, with the weighty power to deprive others of their freedom,” Aronberg observed.

Persons: CNN — Caesar Enrico “ Rico ” Bandello, Caesar, ”, Edward G, Robinson, Rico, Rudolph Giuliani, Fani Willis, Willis, Giuliani, Donald Trump, Sol Wachtler, Bill Bramhall, Jennifer Rodgers, “, Trump, Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, Dave Aronberg, Attorney Alvin Bragg, Aronberg, Jack, Smith, ” Aronberg, Trump Walt Handelsman, James Antle III, ” Antle, ” Trump, Biden, Dean Obeidallah, Clay Jones, Tucker Carlson, Ron DeSantis, Lanhee Chen, Joe Biden, DeSantis, David Axelrod, Axelrod, Vivek Ramaswamy, Rich Lowry, “ Ramaswamy, … ”, Lowry, ” Carrie Sheffield, ” Lisa Benson, GoComics.com, ‘, Julian Zelizer, Jeff Zelevansky, Sandra Bullock, Leigh Anne Tuohy, Jill Filipovic, “ it’s, Michael Oher, Sean, Leigh Anne Tuohy —, … Oher, …, Facebook Filipovic, “ Oher, ” Bradley Cooper’s, ’ “, Leonard Bernstein —, Bradley Cooper, ’ —, David M, Perry, Bernstein, Felicia Montealegre, Carey Mulligan, Cooper, ‘ Maestro, ’, Joel Pett, Agency “, Celia Wexler, Joan Meyer, ” Wexler, Don’t, Ric Ward, Sigrid Fry, Alden Wicker, Jay Michaelson, Al Gore, Lauren Hersh, Rebecca Zipkin, David Andelman, Africa —, Michael Coren, Elsie Robinson, UC Berkeley Elsie Robinson, “ Robinson, Allison Gilbert, ” Gilbert, — Organizations: CNN, ”, New, Appeals, New York Daily News, Department, Electoral, Palm, Manhattan, Attorney, “, White House, of Justice, Trump, Agency, GOP, Republicans, Florida Gov, Republican, Fair, Politico, Hawaii, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, NFL, Oher, Twitter, Netflix, Rican, ” Press, Marion County, Russia, Hearst, San Francisco Examiner, Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley, Google, Smithsonian Locations: Rico, Fulton County, Atlanta, county’s, Georgia, Coffee County, Palm Beach County , Florida, “, Milwaukee, Iowa, GoComics.com Maui, Maui, Delaware, Hawaii, Tennessee, Costa, Rican American, Marion, The Kansas, Revere, Africa

☆ Opinion: Why the Georgia indictment is hugely damaging to Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Opinion Jennifer Rodgers | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

On Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced the fourth indictment against Trump — as well as 18 others — for alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia. The indictment is sweeping, invoking Georgia’s version of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and 40 other counts. While this Georgia indictment does not provide the easy-to-read narrative that Smith gave us in the federal election interference case, the evidence here was exhaustively collected over more than two years. Since these charges have been brought in Georgia state court — and not federal court — neither Trump, should he win in 2024, nor any another Republican president can issue a pardon. Under Georgia law, a state pardon can only be given by a state pardon board — not the governor — and only afterfive years have passed following completion of the sentence.

Persons: Jennifer Rodgers, CNN —, Donald Trump, Fani Willis, Trump, Jack, Smith, Willis, Ruby Freeman, Shaye Moss, —, Willis ’, Alvin Bragg’s Organizations: New York University School of Law, Columbia Law School, CNN, Fulton, Trump —, Department, Electoral, Twitter, Facebook, Trump, Republican, Manhattan Locations: Fulton County, Georgia, Coffee County, Washington , DC, Arizona , Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada

☆ Opinion | The Wagner Group Is Always Ready for a Coup
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Colin P. Clarke | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

But the nation’s successive elected governments were at least willing to cooperate with Washington, allowing the U.S. military to conduct regional counterterrorism activities. Washington has stopped short of calling the crisis a coup — a move that would require the United States to halt security and economic assistance. Wagner will be ready. Their operations have frequently resulted in the deaths of civilians, with credible accusations of sexual violence, torture and extrajudicial killings. Within days of Wagner’s aborted advance on Moscow, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that Wagner’s African footprint would remain.

Persons: Jama’at Nusrat al, Barkhane, jihadists, Wagner, —, Al Qaeda, Bazoum, Prigozhin’s, Wagner’s, Sergei Lavrov, Prigozhin, Putin Organizations: U.S, United, Nigerien, Islamic, West, Central African, Kremlin Locations: Sahel, Africa, Islamic State, Greater Sahara, Haram, Islam, Niger, Washington, United States, America, Mali, Libya, Central African Republic, Sudan, Moscow, St . Petersburg

An unusual special election that lawmakers have scheduled in Ohio for Aug. 8 may tell us a great deal about this moment in American politics after Roe v. Wade. In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court justified its decision overruling Roe with an appeal to democracy. In that time, more than a dozen states have banned abortion, through the enforcement of pre-Roe abortion bans or the enactment of new ones. In other states, abortion access has been severely limited. But one important countervailing trend in the post-Dobbs era has been the use of direct democracy to protect abortion rights.

Persons: Roe, Wade, Dobbs, overruling Roe, Samuel Alito Organizations: Jackson, Health Organization Locations: Ohio

☆ Donald Trump may have taken a swing at the bedrock of American democracy — but he's too 'exhausting' for anyone to care
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Sebastian Cahill | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Political scientists are saying the public is tired of hearing about Donald Trump. The inattention is not unique, but it is alarming given the nature of the charges, experts say. "The fact that most people don't pay attention to politics is certainly not unique to Trump," Enos said. What perhaps is unique to Trump is that he's exhibited such high levels of corruption." Enos said Trump's actions should be especially alarming and problematic to Americans because of his efforts to attack a foundational part of American democracy.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, Jared Carter, Carter, Ryan Enos, Enos, Trump's, that's, he's, Bill Clinton, Monica Lewinsky, It'd, we've Organizations: Service, Vermont Law, Graduate School, Center for American Political Studies, Harvard University, Trump, White Locations: Wall, Silicon, Vermont, United States

☆ Appeals Court Overturns Mississippi’s Lifetime Ban on Voting for Former Felons
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Michael Wines | More About Michael Wines | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mississippi’s lifetime ban on voting for people convicted of a range of felonies is cruel and unusual punishment that violates the Eighth Amendment and “is at odds with society’s evolving standards of decency,” a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. In an emphatic 2-to-1 opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upbraided Mississippi officials for what it called a pointless “denial of the democratic core of American citizenship." They added: “It is an especially cruel penalty as applied to those whom the justice system has already deemed to have completed all terms of their sentences. These individuals, despite having satisfied their debt to society, are precluded from ever fully participating in civic life. Indeed, they are excluded from the most essential feature and expression of citizenship in a democracy — voting.”

Persons: ” Organizations: U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Circuit upbraided

☆ Opinion: How Trump’s indictment reverses a 50-year precedent
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-03 | by ( Julian Zelizer | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Editor’s Note: Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst, is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. CNN —Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to subvert the 2020 presidential election. As Garrett Graff wrote in a New York Times op-ed, “the precedent Ford set seems to have paralyzed a half-century of prosecutors. But the calculus for the decision to charge Trump shouldn’t rest on the former president’s political fate. Rather, we need to take a long-term view and consider how we can better hold presidents – present and former – accountable.

Persons: Julian Zelizer, Donald Trump, Stormy Daniels, Trump, Gerald Ford, preemptively, Richard Nixon, Nixon, Ford, —, ” Ford, ”, –, Ronald Reagan’s, George W, Bush, Garrett Graff, Jack Smith Organizations: CNN, Princeton University, New York Times, America, Twitter, Trump, Department of Justice, Congressional, Justice Department, Republican, GOP, Ford Locations: New York, Iran, Nicaragua, United States

☆ Opinion | The U.S. Is Finally Trying to Fix Its Money-Laundering Problem
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Peter Coy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Dec. 9, 2021, at the inaugural Summit for Democracy, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made a stunning admission: Her country had become the world’s most sought-after shelter for criminals’ money. “In the popular imagination,” she said, according to the prepared text for the virtual event, “the money-laundering capitals of the world are small countries with histories of loose and secretive financial laws. The good news: They’re slowly succeeding. New laws and rules, most of which were in the works before her speech, are stripping away veils of secrecy, making it easier to find and prosecute the bad guys. That’s good for democracy, because nothing corrodes faith in democracy more than the sense that the system is rigged and cheaters prosper.

Persons: Janet Yellen, ”, ” Yellen, They’re, Raymond W, Baker, Democracy — Organizations: for Democracy, “, Democracy Locations: United States

☆ Four Takeaways From the Trump Indictment.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Jonathan Swan | More About Jonathan Swan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Jack Smith made only his second televised appearance as special counsel on Tuesday to explain his decision to charge former President Donald J. Trump with leading a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. He took no questions and urged viewers to read the 45-page indictment in its entirety. Mr. Trump has been charged with four crimes, including conspiracies to defraud the United States and to obstruct an official proceeding. Here are four takeaways:The indictment portrays an attack on American democracy. Mr. Smith framed his case against Mr. Trump as one that cuts to a core function of democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.

Persons: Jack Smith, Donald J, —, Smith, Trump Organizations: Trump Locations: Washington, United States

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