Turkey Approves Finland’s NATO Membership, a Defeat for Putin

Finland’s entry into the military alliance after Turkey formally signed off is a significant defeat for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. BRUSSELS — Finland won final approval on Thursday to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after decades of nonalignment, a major shift in the balance of power between the West and Russia that…

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Trump’s Camp at Mar-a-Lago Is Caught Off Guard by Indictment

At Mar-a-Lago on Thursday evening, former President Donald J. Trump was still absorbing the news of his indictment, according to several people close to him. Mr. Trump and his aides were caught off guard by the timing, believing that any action by the grand jury was still weeks away and might not occur at all.…

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The Necessity of Patriotism (Even in Times Like These)

Dear Zoomers, Because you’re online so much you probably saw the Wall Street Journal/NORC poll that came out this week. It found that the share of Americans who say patriotism is very important to them has dropped to 38 percent from 70 percent since 1998. The share who say religion is very important has dropped…

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Trump Indictment, a First for a U.S. President, Tests Democracy

For more than two centuries, American presidents were effectively shielded from indictment. But the case against former President Donald J. Trump breaks that taboo and sets a new precedent. For the first time in American history, a former president of the United States has been indicted on criminal charges. It is worth pausing to repeat…

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Trump Is Indicted, as America’s Justice System Holds Him Accountable

For the first time in American history, a grand jury has indicted a former president of the United States, The Times reported on Thursday. Donald Trump spent years as a candidate, in office and out of office, ignoring democratic and legal norms and precedents, trying to bend the Justice Department and the judiciary to his…

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Ron DeSantis Reunites With a Key Adviser as Campaign Plans Unfold

A central area of expertise for Dustin Carmack, who will leave his post at the Heritage Foundation, is national security, with a focus on cybersecurity. Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida plans to install his former congressional chief of staff as a senior adviser specializing in national security when he formally begins his presidential campaign, according…

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3058 – Declassifying The “Dark State”; Israel's Long Road To True Democracy w/ Matthew Connelly & Orly Noy

It’s another EmMajority Report Thursday! She hosts Matthew Connolly, professor of international and global history at Columbia University, to discuss his recent book The Declassification Engine: What History Reveals About America’s Top Secrets. Then, Emma speaks with Orly Noy, editor at Local Call and chair of B’Tselem’s executive board, to discuss her recent piece in +972 Magazine entitled “Do Israeli protesters really want democracy?” First, Emma runs through updates on a rollback of the Iraq war authorizations, Netanyahu’s response to Biden, price gauging in the egg market, the Trump Grand Jury in New York, Texas’ anti-gay judicial decision, Biden advancing open drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, and far-right legislation coming out of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Florida, before diving into Mitt Romney, notorious job killer, running cover for Howard Schultz on the Senate floor. Mattew Connelly then joins as he walks through the current state of the US’ secrecy state and the outrageously massive extent of it, with the agency responsible for tracking classified document numbers declaring that they officially lost count five years ago, leading to the recent news revelations around the hoarding of documents at the homes of Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Joe Biden. Next, Connelly steps back to trace the evolution of the US’ “Dark State” from the Constitutional Convention, with the Framers enshrining Congress’ right to keep deliberations secret while still acknowledging the President’s need to act with secrecy and dispatch, through an era of general transparency from the state, and up to the start of the Second World War. From here, Matthew and Emma parse through the extensive expansion of the US intelligence and secrecy apparatus that aligned with the complete expulsion of marginalized identities from the Federal Government in the wake of the Second World War, ingraining a very particular white-male perspective throughout these institutions, before looking deeper at the impact of the US Elites’ Cold War anxieties and how they extended far beyond foreign fears, with the Pentagon running secret domestic war scenarios (for instance: race war). Wrapping up, Connelly walks through the evolution of the Dark State over the last few administrations, its relationship to US imperialism, and why he uses the term “Dark State” instead of “Deep State.” Orly Noy then joins as she and Emma attempt to tackle Israel’s relationship with democracy amidst a period of (supposedly pro-Democracy) political protests and the country’s ongoing apartheid regime, looking at the importance of considering all communities extending from the river to the sea when discussing Israeli democracy. From here, they work to assess the inherently anti-democratic nature of a system built on injustice and supremacy, and why “democracy for me and fascism for thee” will never be sustainable. And in the Fun Half: Emma is joined by Matt Binder and Brandon Sutton as they watch Chaya Raichik struggle to fill the boots of Goebbels and the like, Pat Robertson accidentally answering a question about trans folks as a Christian rather than a fascist, and assess how much the Right-Wing truly drives culture war BS. Spacko, the Voice of Scam Economy, calls in to discuss mass social media harassment and legal recourse, Mark from New Mexico discusses James O’Brien’s concept of contempt for the conmen and compassion for the conned, and the MR Crew cover the San Jose Police Officer’s Association’s role in drug trafficking and Jamaal Bowman confrontation over gun control. Lucy from Delaware takes on the importance of calling out the fascist legislation cropping up across the US, plus, your calls and IMs! Check out Matthew’s book here: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/545793/the-declassification-engine-by-matthew-connelly/ Check out Orly’s piece here: https://www.972mag.com/israel-protests-democracy-judicial-coup/ Become a member at JoinTheMajorityReport.com: https://fans.fm/majority/join Subscribe to the ESVN YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/esvnshow Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! http://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: http://majority.fm/app Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattBinder @MattLech @BF1nn @BradKAlsop Check out Matt’s show, Left Reckoning, on Youtube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Subscribe to Brandon’s show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Subscribe to Discourse Blog, a newsletter and website for progressive essays and related fun partly run by AM Quickie writer Jack Crosbie. https://discourseblog.com/ Check out Matt Binder’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Check out Ava Raiza’s music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com/ The Majority Report with Sam Seder – https://majorityreportradio.com/

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How the Public Is Reacting to the Gwyneth Paltrow Trial

Gwyneth Paltrow rose to fame as a young actress, but her influence spread broadly when she pivoted to businesswoman in 2008 by founding Goop, a lifestyle brand that famously sold vaginal wellness eggs that were the subject of a $145,000 false advertising settlement. In recent weeks, an interview about her near-total liquid diet of coffee…

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DeSantis’s Oversight Board Said Disney Stripped It of Its Power

The Florida governor’s new Disney World oversight board belatedly realized that the company had quietly sidestepped its control. Over the past two months, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has repeatedly declared victory in his yearlong effort to restrict the autonomy of Disney World, the state’s largest employer. “There’s a new sheriff in town,” he said…

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How a President’s Arrest Can Strengthen a Democracy

In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant was arrested by a police officer for speeding in his horse-drawn coach in Washington. The officer stuck out his hand to signal a stop, and Grant obeyed and then accompanied the officer to the police station. Did that demean the presidency? No, I’d say it was a beautiful tribute…

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