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    CBS reporter apologizes and deletes post praising Abdul El-Sayed heckler

    Jan Crawford had praised man who asked Democratic candidate whether he would disavow Muslim BrotherhoodCBS’s chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford has apologized for and deleted a social media post praising a man who questioned Democratic Michigan US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about the Muslim Brotherhood during a town hall on Saturday.On Sunday, Crawford, who initially joined CBS in 2009, wrote on X: “Earlier, I tweeted a video from an Abdul El-Sayed town hall. I deleted that tweet because it was a violation of CBS News standards. I apologize.” Continue reading… More

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    How Trump’s justice department is shattering practice of political neutrality as midterms loom

    From the attorney general stumping for Republican candidates to federal agents raiding the home of a Democratic congresswoman up for re-election, the department is violating longstanding normsDonald Trump’s justice department has aggressively inserted itself into the midterm elections in the contest’s final weeks, shattering the department’s longstanding practice of political neutrality and leaving little doubt about the department’s willingness to help should the president attempt to subvert elections where his party is forecasted to lose seats and ultimately control of Congress.In the last few weeks, federal agents have raided the home of a Democratic congresswoman up for re-election. It has touted criminal charges and arrests of non-citizens charged with voter fraud. The attorney general has hit the campaign trail to stump for Republican candidates. And the department gave California election officials 48 hours to investigate the citizenship of 20,000 people, and then sued the state when it refused to comply. The FBI also recently published a video criticizing Michigan senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and other Democrats, drawing an immediate rebuke from one watchdog, who said the video “has no place in a democratic society”. Continue reading… More

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    ‘No Kings’ protesters rally across the US – video

    Protesters held rallies across the US as part of the ‘No Kings’ movement, voicing opposition to the Trump administration and calling for early voting ahead of November’s midterm elections. The rallies coincide with heightened legal battles surrounding voting rules, including a recent federal lawsuit filed against California regarding mail-in ballots and warnings from the justice department concerning ballot processing. Current opinion polls suggest Democrats will win the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterms, while the Senate remains too close to call Continue reading… More

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    Small business owners are doing OK – but will that help Trump overcome his low approval ratings?

    Overall, economic sentiment for Trump is poor, but small businesses seem fairly confident, according to several surveysThere are 34m small businesses in the United States. They employ approximately half of the country’s workers and generate about half of the country’s GDP. They’re an important voting block. So how are they feeling about the economy as we head into November’s midterm elections? Overall, economic sentiment for Donald Trump is poor but small business – admittedly a diverse demographic that’s hard to poll – seems fairly confident. A number of recently published surveys and reports can help understand their mood.Confidence is generally stable. Continue reading… More

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    Getaway cars, affairs, Dubai fugitives: Trump’s pick Ken Paxton brings baggage to Senate race in Texas

    The Republican state attorney general appears uniquely ill-chosen as a candidate – but he is a political survivor who could yet frustrate Democratic dreamsDepending how you look at the situation, it is either predictable that Ken Paxton, Texas’s attorney general and Republican candidate for US Senate, is struggling in the polls – or impressive that he is not doing worse. Beloved by hardcore Maga voters and regarded with skepticism by the broader voting public, Paxton is also puzzlingly bland. Recently, Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters that the 63-year-old Paxton “may not dress right, he may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I’ve ever seen”. The president was endorsing him.Yet it is Paxton’s ability to attract – and somehow scrape through – scandal that makes him a less charismatic, perhaps, but still kindred spirit of “Teflon Don”: nothing sticks. He has survived state prosecution (on securities-related charges that he settled without admitting guilt), impeachment by the Republican-led Texas legislature (on abuse-of-office charges of which he was later acquitted), and so many controversies that it can be difficult to pin down the most outrageous. Continue reading… More

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    Key player in false Talarico rumor has history of online posts invoking Nazi Germany

    Ryan Amacher, who played role in bid to damage campaign, has also made antisemitic and racist posts on social mediaAn influencer who played a key role in hoax claims that James Talarico was in a mental health facility has a long history of social media posts that favorably invoke Nazi Germany, express antisemitism and anti-Black racism, criticize miscegenation and call for “remigration” of refugees.On X, the Lake Oswego, Oregon, resident Ryan Amacher, known online as Rhein Amacher, has described Muslims as “sub-human”, claimed that Black Africans are “monkeys” with low IQ, characterized immigrants as “vermin” and expressed support for the far right, including Germany’s AfD and the UK’s Tommy Robinson. Continue reading… More

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    Trump administration threatens California officials if noncitizens vote in midterms

    Justice department warns election officials of prosecution if they ‘knowingly tabulate ballots’ cast by noncitizensThe Trump administration is escalating its fight with California ahead of next month’s midterm elections, warning that local officials who process and tabulate ballots submitted by suspected noncitizen voters are putting themselves at risk of criminal investigation and potential prosecution.The letter on Friday from senior justice department officials and obtained first by the Associated Press is the latest salvo in an ongoing tussle with heavily Democratic California, coming just a day after the Trump administration sued the state to prevent it from counting mail-in ballots from people the federal government has identified as “likely” noncitizens until their immigration status can be confirmed. Continue reading… More

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    Trump in Georgia falsely claims election of Jon Ossoff was illegitimate

    President appears at rally for struggling Mike Collins, dismisses critics and touts ‘most successful’ two-year runAt a rally in north Georgia, Donald Trump again claimed that the 2020 election in Georgia was fraudulent, alleging that the election of US senator Jon Ossoff was illegitimate.Ossoff, who faces US congressman Mike Collins in November, does not represent Georgia’s values, Trump said. Continue reading… More