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America prepares for extended pain if House Republicans cause shutdown of Federal government

America prepares for extended pain if House Republicans cause shutdown of Federal government

Posted by | Sep 26, 2023

The federal government is heading toward a shutdown that will disrupt many services, squeeze workers and roil politics as Republicans in the House, fueled by hard-right demands for deep cuts, force a confrontation over federal spending. While some government entities will be exempt — Social Security checks, for example, will still go out — other functions will be severely curtailed. Federal agencies will stop all actions deemed non-essential, and millions of federal employees, including members of the military, will not receive paychecks. Here is a look at what is ahead if the government shuts down on October 1. WHAT...

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MAGA Republicans keep getting what they want from Speaker McCarthy but it never seems to be enough

MAGA Republicans keep getting what they want from Speaker McCarthy but it never seems to be enough

Posted by | Sep 26, 2023

Staring down a fast-approaching government shutdown that threatens to disrupt life for millions of Americans, Speaker Kevin McCarthy has turned to a strategy that so far has preserved his tenuous hold on House leadership but also marked it by chaos: giving hard-right lawmakers what they want. In his eight months running the House, McCarthy has lived by the upbeat personal mantra of “never give up” as he dodges threats to his speakership and tries to portray Republicans as capable stewards of the U.S. government. He has long chided Washington for underestimating him. But with the House GOP majority in...

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Putin’s GOP: America stands largely naked before the coming onslaught of disinformation in 2024

Putin’s GOP: America stands largely naked before the coming onslaught of disinformation in 2024

Posted by | Sep 26, 2023

China, Russia, and a handful of rightwing billionaires are trying to tear down our democracy. “Putin Republicans,” aka the MAGA GOP, are trying to help them. For most of the 7,000-year history of modern civilization autocracy has been the default system all over the world, as I lay out in The Hidden History of American Democracy. The past two centuries, however, have featured an ongoing battle for primacy between democracy and autocratic oligarchy. At the time of the Civil War there was only a small handful of democratic nations in the world, and they all held their breath to see...

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Ukrainian pilots begin training on F-16 fighter jets at air base in the United States

Ukrainian pilots begin training on F-16 fighter jets at air base in the United States

Posted by | Sep 25, 2023

The United States will start training Ukrainian pilots to fly U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets, beginning at an Air National Guard base in October, the Pentagon said in August. The training is part of a U.S. and European effort to get the advanced fighter jets to Ukraine for its defense against invading Russian forces. The announcement came as President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to commemorate Ukraine’s Independence Day and to reiterate support for the effort to fight back Russian troops. The two discussed the F-16 training, and Biden assured Zelenskyy of an expedited approval for other...

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Occupying Taiwan: Opinions remain divided over what lessons China is learning from Russia’s failures

Occupying Taiwan: Opinions remain divided over what lessons China is learning from Russia’s failures

Posted by | Sep 25, 2023

By Peter Rutland, Professor of Government, Wesleyan University U.S. defense strategists warn that China may use the distraction of the war in Ukraine to launch military action against Taiwan. They believe Chinese President Xi Jinping is determined to gain control over the breakaway province, which has been beyond Beijing’s control since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, before he leaves office. In response to these concerns, in July 2023, the U.S. announced a US$345 million military aid package for Taiwan. For the first time, arms are being delivered to Taiwan from U.S. stockpiles under presidential...

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A web of scars: Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers face an amputee trauma on a scale unseen since WWI

A web of scars: Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers face an amputee trauma on a scale unseen since WWI

Posted by | Sep 24, 2023

The small band of soldiers gather outside to share cigarettes and war stories, sometimes casually and sometimes with a degree of testiness over recollections made unreliable by their last day fighting, the day the war took away their limbs. Some clearly remember the moment they were hit by anti-tank mines, aerial bombs, a missile, a shell. For others, the gaps in their memories loom large. Vitaliy Bilyak’s skinny body is a web of scars that end with an amputation above the knee. During six weeks in a coma, Bilyak underwent over 10 surgeries, including his jaw, hand, and heel,...

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