The Political Thread

[Jacob Fatu]

Numpty RFK Jr . Oh well now he's going to feel what losing is about and when trump discards him like trash he doesn't want to try and say oh I'm sorry.

 

[Chris]

https://www.npr.org/2024/08/25/nx-s1-5088676/telegram-ceo-pavel-durov-arrested-france

Pavel Durov, the co-founder and chief executive of the messaging service Telegram, was arrested and detained on Saturday, according to French media reports.

The Paris prosecutor's office told NPR that a statement about the matter will be issued on Monday.

Law enforcement agents reportedly arrested Durov at Le Bourget Airport outside of Paris, where he was arriving on his private jet from Azerbaijan, according to multiple French press reports.

AFP reported that an arrest warrant had been issued for Durov as a result of an investigation into whether he has failed to crack down on illegal activity including drug trafficking, the promotion of terrorism and fraud on Telegram.

 

[Chris]

Judge Pauses Biden Administration Program That Aids Undocumented Spouses

Ruling in favor of 16 Republican-led states that sued the administration, a federal judge put the program on hold while the court considers the merits of the case.

www.nytimes.com

A federal judge in Texas temporarily blocked on Monday a Biden administration program that could offer a path to citizenship for up to half a million undocumented immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens, ruling in favor of 16 Republican-led states that sued the administration.

Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued an administrative stay to effectively halt the program, which started accepting applications last week, while the court considers the merits of the case.

In suspending the initiative, Judge Baker said that the 67-page complaint filed on Friday by the coalition of states, led by Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas, raised legitimate questions about the authority of the executive branch to bypass Congress and set immigration policy.

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/27/politics/trump-superseding-indictment-january-6/index.html

Special counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday filed a superseding indictment in the election interference case against former President Donald Trump, slimming down the allegations against the 2024 presidential nominee in light of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling.

Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson speaks during street renaming ceremony for her in Miami-Dade County on March 06, 2023 in Cutler Bay, Florida.

Prosecutors have not dropped any of the four charges that they initially brought against the former president. However, the newly retooled indictment has carved out some of Trump’s alleged conduct, including allegations about the attempts to use the Justice Department to promote his false claims of election fraud.

 

[Chris]

First Jan. 6 Rioter to Enter Capitol Gets More Than 4 Years in Prison

Michael Sparks, 57, was the first rioter to breach the Capitol and among the first to be confronted by the U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman.

www.nytimes.com

The first rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Tuesday to more than four years in prison, federal prosecutors announced.

In March, a federal jury found Michael Sparks, 47, of Elizabethtown, Ky., guilty on felony charges of obstructing an official proceeding and civil disorder and several misdemeanor charges for being on the premises of the Capitol building on Jan. 6.

On Tuesday, Judge Timothy J. Kelly of U.S. District Court in Washington sentenced him to 53 months in prison and ordered him to pay a $2,000 fine. Mr. Sparks will be on supervised release for three years after his prison term ends, prosecutors said.

 

[Chris]

At Least 9 Killed as Israel Begins Major Military Operation in West Bank

Hundreds of troops entered cities in the occupied territory, targeting Palestinian militants. It was a significant escalation after months of raids that have unfolded alongside the war in Gaza.

www.nytimes.com

Hundreds of Israeli troops mounted unusually broad overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, Israeli officials said Wednesday, targeting Palestinian militants after what they called months of rising attacks. At least nine people were killed, and an Israeli military official said the operation was continuing.

 

[Chris]

I owe 28k still but this is actually the one thing that's either getting my parents to vote Democrat for the first time in their entire lives or more than likely just not voting at all.

They're not even blocking actual forgiveness, they already blocked that last year, they're now blocking plans that allowed low income borrowers to pay a lesser amount over a longer period of time

Supreme Court refuses to revive Biden's latest student loan debt relief plan

Republican-led states challenged the plan aimed at reducing the burden on borrowers, including a provision that would reduce their monthly payments.

www.nbcnews.com

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday rebuffed a Biden administration plea seeking to revive the latest plan to tackle federal student loan debt.

The court in a brief order denied an emergency request filed by the administration seeking to lift a nationwide injunction imposed by an appeals court. There were no noted dissents.

The order said the appeals court that is currently handling the case should "render its decision with appropriate dispatch."

 

[Chris]

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov charged by French prosecutors

Prosecutors alleged in a press release that Telegram enabled organized crime and refused to cooperate with authorities.

www.nbcnews.com

Pavel Durov, the CEO and co-founder of the news and messaging app Telegram, has been charged in France with enabling various forms of criminality, one of which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros ($555,750), according to French prosecutors Wednesday.

It marks one of the few instances in which the CEO of a major internet platform has been charged over alleged criminal failure to moderate what users do on its platform.

 

[Chris]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/29/politics/kamala-harris-tim-walz-cnntv/index.html

Savannah, Georgia CNN — Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday offered her most expansive explanation to date on why she’s changed some of her positions on fracking and immigration, telling CNN’s Dana Bash her values haven’t shifted but that her time as vice president provided new perspective on some of the country’s most pressing issues.

In the CNN exclusive sit-down interview, Harris also said she would name a Republican to serve in her Cabinet if elected.

She described for the first time President Joe Biden’s telephone call informing her he was planning to abandon his bid for a second term after his disastrous debate performance. She stopped short of saying she would alter Biden’s policy toward arm sales to Israel.

And she brushed off her rival’s questioning of her racial identity, dismissing Donald Trump’s suggestion she “happened to turn Black.”

“Same old, tired playbook,” she said. “Next question, please.”

 

[Chris]

Boar’s Head Plant Tied to 9 Deaths Had Mold, Leaky Pipes and Flies

Federal inspectors cited continuing problems at a deli meat plant in Virginia that was linked to an outbreak of listeria, records indicate.

www.nytimes.com

Federal meat inspectors documented black mold, water dripping over meat and dead flies at a Virginia Boar’s Head deli meat plant that has now been linked to nine deaths from listeria, according to records.

Over the course of a year, food safety inspectors, who are a constant presence in meat facilities across the United States, noted escalating problems at the plant.

Under U.S. Department of Agriculture rules, the processing facility, in rural Virginia, was expected to swab for listeria, which the agency considers a “zero tolerance” concern that can spur an immediate recall. Yet the inspectors — who also swab and test for listeria, a lethal bacteria — do not appear to have been the first to prompt a recall of more than seven million pounds of ham, salami, hot dogs and other meats by Boar’s Head.

 

[Chris]

Judge Bans X in Brazil After Musk Refuses to Name Representative

Brazil’s top court ordered the immediate suspension of X in the country after its billionaire owner Elon Musk defied orders to name a legal representative for the social network in Latin America’s largest nation.

www.bloomberg.com

Brazil’s top court ordered the immediate suspension of X in the country after its billionaire owner Elon Musk defied orders to name a legal representative for the social network in Latin America’s largest nation.

The banning of the platform formerly known as Twitter caps a months-long feud between Musk and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is spearheading efforts to combat fake news and hate speech that he says are harming Brazil’s democracy.

 

[Chris]

At 2 Elite Colleges, Shifts in Racial Enrollment After Affirmative Action Ban

Amherst College and Tufts University saw shifts in the racial makeup of students after a Supreme Court decision ending affirmative action. At other schools, the picture is murkier.

www.nytimes.com

A drop in the share of Black first-year students at two elite colleges this school year has provided an early sign that the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action could have an impact on racial diversity, at least at some of the nation’s more selective schools.

At Amherst College, a small liberal arts college in Massachusetts, the share of Black students decreased sharply — by eight percentage points — for this year’s entering class, according to data released on Thursday. It decreased more moderately at Tufts University, a larger private college near Boston, according to that school’s data. At the University of Virginia, which released its data on Friday, the percentage of Black students also dipped, but only slightly.

The new evidence comes after the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced a sharp drop in Black enrollment, by 10 percentage points, last week.

 

[Chris]

Israel confirms deaths of six 7 October hostages after IDF finds bodies in Gaza

Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose parents pressed world leaders for help, is among those named

www.theguardian.com

Israel has confirmed the deaths of six more hostages taken in the 7 October attack by Hamas after the captives’ bodies were found in a Gaza tunnel during military operations there.

The Israeli military (IDF) said it had located and recovered the bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Master Sergeant Ori Danino on Saturday from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area in the Gaza Strip and returned them to Israeli territory.