James Risen
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Articles by James Risen
What’s behind Maga influencer Laura Loomer’s about-face on Ukraine?
Laura Loomer, the online Maga provocateur, has never worked in the White House or anywhere else in the government, but her sudden conversion to the Ukrainian cause this week is significant because her social media posts often have real policy implications in the second Trump administration.
The real aim of Trump’s New York Times leak investigation is to punish reporters
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The real aim of Trump’s New York Times leak investigation is to punish reporters
‘Whether the case proceeds or not, it is just Trump’s latest excuse to punish reporters and news organizations.’ Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images In 2015, after I won a seven-year battle with the federal government and refused its demands that I reveal my confidential sources for a story I wrote about a botched CIA operation, many media experts predicted that I would be the last journalist ever subpoenaed by the government in a leak investigation.
Pete Hegseth is skirting law by bringing back Confederate names of army bases
A sign at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Photograph: Chris Keane/Reuters Since Donald Trump returned to office this year, his secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has ripped the new names off a series of US army bases and brought back their old traitorous Confederate names. His actions have angered Democrats and even some Republicans in Congress, prompting a rare rebuke of the Trump administration by the Republican-controlled Congress last Tuesday.
Maga influencer and de facto national security adviser Laura Loomer holds outsized sway on Trump
After years of claiming to be the vanguard of a new “America First” isolationist movement rebelling against the neoconservative policies of the George W Bush administration that led to the bloody wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Maga’s online influencers are cheering for another war in the Middle East. And not just any war: they are applauding Donald Trump’s high-risk decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities, a move that was considered a war too far even by the Bush administration.
Trump is not interested in listening to US experts on Iran’s nuclear program
The Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran in 2014. Photograph: Mohammad Ali Najib/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images That prolonged debate has repeatedly placed the relatively dovish US intelligence community at odds with Israel and neoconservative Iran hawks ever since the height of the global war on terror. For nearly two decades, the US intelligence agencies have concluded that while Iran has a program to enrich uranium, it has never actually built any atomic bombs.
Will Republican senator Susan Collins stay on the sidelines or take on Trump?
Under normal circumstances, Senator Susan Collins would now be one of the most powerful figures in official Washington. In January, the Maine Republican became the chair of the Senate appropriations committee, long considered one of the most consequential panels in the upper chamber. Nicknamed the “college of cardinals” for its outsized power over federal spending, it can approve funds for favored programs and slash it for others while blocking attempts by the White House to get in the way.
Trump’s Power Feeds on White Demographic Fears
Stephen A Smith finds himself apologizing again after latest ESPN controversy Stephen A. Smith has issued yet another public apology just weeks after making two in two days following his recent comments about Phoenix Suns …
Trump’s Power Feeds on White Demographic Fears
GETTYSBURG — This is the most American of towns. It is where Robert E. Lee tried to destroy the nation, where Abraham Lincoln tried to heal it, and where William Faulkner revealed a century later that the country was still irretrievably racist and broken. Even though much of its bloody Civil War past is hidden behind McDonald’s and Burger King and Dairy Queen and Walmart, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, today is still the symbolic capital of the endless American fight over the nation’s history.
Não podemos ter medo de comparar Trump a Hitler
Por muitas décadas, jornalistas aprenderam a não fazer analogias com Hitler nas matérias sobre política dos EUA. A maldade de Adolf Hitler era tão peculiar, que qualquer comparação entre um político estadunidense e o líder nazista era considerada injusta e fora dos limites. Até que veio Donald Trump. Trump é a primeira figura política moderna nos Estados Unidos a obrigar os jornalistas a reavaliarem se as referências a Hitler se enquadram em seus padrões editoriais.
The Trump Campaign’s Ties to Russia Were No Hoax
In May 2016, George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, told Alexander Downer, an Australian diplomat, that Russia had damaging information about Trump’s political rival Hillary Clinton. That conversation in a London bar eventually triggered the Trump-Russia case, a sprawling counterintelligence and criminal inquiry into Russia’s attempt to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Trump win.
The Trump Campaign’s Ties to Russia Were No Hoax
We Wanted To See Trump Without His Disastrous Tan, So We Gave Him His Real Skin Tone Back Donald Trump is known for his orange tan, so much so that it's hard to remember what he looks like without it. We decided to fix that problem.
Americans Need a Closing Argument Against Trump
Too many Americans seem to be ignoring the risks that another Trump presidency would pose to the U.S. This is a warning to them. Donald Trump is an existential threat to American democracy. Trump tried to stage a coup in the months after his defeat in the 2020 election and then incited a violent insurrection in an illegal attempt to stay in power.
Mainstream Media Was Afraid to Compare Trump to Hitler. Now the Press Has No Excuse.
For decades, reporters have been taught not to make Hitler analogies in stories about American politics. Adolf Hitler was so uniquely evil that any comparison of an American politician with the Nazi leader was considered unfair and out of bounds. And then came Donald Trump. Trump is the first modern American political figure to force journalists to reassess whether Hitler references meet their editorial standards.
Mainstream Media Was Afraid to Compare Trump to Hitler. Now the Press Has No Excuse.
6 hours ago An Indian woman is super paranoid about her upcoming trip to Germany for an event in Dresden. Reason? Her name! She was named by her father as Swastika! For those dwelling under the rocks, one of the worst progroms committed in human history against the Jews by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party that …
Americans Need a Closing Argument Against Trump
Donald Trump is an existential threat to American democracy. Trump tried to stage a coup in the months after his defeat in the 2020 election and then incited a violent insurrection in an illegal attempt to stay in power. He is a convicted felon, a twice impeached, four-times-indicted con man and fraudster, the leader of the MAGA cult who uses conspiracy theories and lies about immigrants and minorities to stoke fear and hatred.
My Closing Argument Against Trump
Donald Trump is an existential threat to American democracy. Trump tried to stage a coup in the months after his defeat in the 2020 election and then …
The Reason Netanyahu and Putin Both Want a Trump Victory
Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu both want Donald Trump to win so they can prolong and intensify their brutal wars. The outcomes of the two biggest wars in the world hang in the balance of the American presidential election, even though U.S. troops are not involved in combat in either one. If Donald Trump wins the election, both wars will get much, much worse.
The Reason Netanyahu and Putin Both Want a Trump Victory
The outcomes of the two biggest wars in the world hang in the balance of the American presidential election, even though U.S. troops are not involved in combat in either one. If Donald Trump wins the election, both wars will get much, much worse. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both want Trump to win the American presidential election so that they can prolong and intensify their brutal wars without the possibility of American interference.
Trump’s Conspiracy Theory Campaign
Stoking and exploiting racist fears of immigrants is essentially all that Trump is running on. Donald Trump doesn’t try to campaign on any real issues. Instead, he traffics in racist tropes and conspiracy theories as he tries to get Americans to go down a rabbit hole into a dark alternate reality where immigrants kidnap and eat cats, the 2020 election was stolen, vaccines are poison, and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is not really Black.
Trump’s Conspiracy Theory Campaign
Donald Trump doesn’t try to campaign on any real issues. Instead, he traffics in racist tropes and conspiracy theories as he tries to get Americans to go down a rabbit hole into a dark alternate reality where immigrants kidnap and eat cats, the 2020 election was stolen, vaccines are poison, and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is not really Black.
Trump’s Conspiracy Theory Campaign
1 day ago Wild Mother - the online alias of a woman called Desirée - lives in the mountains of Colorado, where she posts videos to 80,000 followers about holistic wellness and bringing up her little girl. She wants Donald Trump to win the presidential election. About 70 miles north in the suburbs of Denver is …
It's Good Trump Won't Be Sentenced Until After the Election
Maybe, just maybe, Judge Juan Merchan saved American democracy last week. On Friday, the New York state judge delayed Donald Trump’s sentencing on his felony conviction for falsifying business records to hide his hush-money scheme to buy the silence of a former porn star in the midst of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Why the Media Won’t Report the Truth About Trump
Over the last few years, as it grew increasingly likely that Donald Trump would mount a third campaign for the White House, leading press critics and others in the media vowed that this time had to be different. The press couldn’t fail in its coverage of Trump once again. This time, it must aggressively investigate Trump while focusing coverage on the threat that he poses to democracy.
Why the Media Won’t Report the Truth About Trump
Patrick Mahomes 1 day ago Brittany Mahomes Sends Strong Message Amid Donald Trump Backlash athlonsports.com - Angelo Guinhawa • 1d Brittany Mahomes, wife of Kansas City Chiefs superstar Patrick Mahomes, dropped a strong but rather intriguing message once again amid the recent … Liberal View 6 hours ago Trump tries to clean up mess from possibly illegal cemetery photo op Raw Story - Travis Gettys • 6h Donald Trump tried to clean up the mess after his widely criticized visit to Arlington...
Racism Is Why Trump Is So Popular
Trump’s popularity with his base isn’t the result of economic anxiety, as many claimed in 2016. It’s about race and demographics. To understand the rise of Donald Trump, you don’t need to go to a diner in the Midwest or read “Hillbilly Elegy,” J.D. Vance’s memoir. You just need to know these basic facts: In 1980, white people accounted for about 80 percent of the U.S. population. In 2024, white people account for about 58 percent of the U.S. population.
Le racisme est la raison pour laquelle Trump est si populaire (The Intercept)
Le racisme est la raison pour laquelle Trump est si populaire Article originel : Racism Is Why Trump Is So Popular Par James Risen The Intercept, 10.08.24 La popularité de Trump auprès de sa base n’est pas le résultat d’une anxiété économique, comme beaucoup l’ont prétendu en 2016. C’est une question de "race" et de démographie. Pour comprendre l’ascension de Donald Trump, il n’est pas nécessaire d’aller dans un restaurant du Midwest ou de lire « Hillbilly Elegy », les mémoires de J.D. Vance.
Racism Is Why Trump Is So Popular
To understand the rise of Donald Trump, you don’t need to go to a diner in the Midwest or read “Hillbilly Elegy,” J.D. Vance’s memoir. You just need to know these basic facts: In 1980, white people accounted for about 80 percent of the U.S. population. In 2024, white people account for about 58 percent of the U.S. population. Trump appeals to white people gripped by demographic hysteria. Especially older white people who grew up when white people represented a much larger share of the population.
Racism Is Why Trump Is So Popular
Liberal View 6 hours ago Trump Dinner Guest Nick Fuentes Declares ‘War’ on the Ex-Prez The Daily Beast - Owen Lavine • 6h The neo-Nazi streamer took to X to issue a casus belli against former President Donald Trump.
My Family’s Long and Painful Relationship With the FBI
I never knew my uncle. Marvin Risen, my father’s brother, died long before I was born. He was an FBI agent in Nashville and was killed in a plane crash in 1943. But decades later, when I was growing up, something about Marvin’s death still troubled my family. My parents often talked about how they had never been given any answers about Marvin’s death, and that led them to speculate wildly, trying to connect the dots. They openly questioned whether he had been the victim of wartime sabotage.
The Supreme Court Wants a Dictator
The right-wing court is engaged in a radical revolution to upend U.S. democracy. Monday’s Supreme Court ruling granting far-reaching presidential immunity gives the lie to decades of right-wing propaganda about the real purpose of the long conservative campaign to take over the court.
The Supreme Court Wants a Dictator
Monday’s Supreme Court ruling granting far-reaching presidential immunity gives the lie to decades of right-wing propaganda about the real purpose of the long conservative campaign to take over the court. Generations of conservativepseudointellectuals have argued that the mission of the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal group that has seeded the Supreme Court with its zombie-like members, was to bring the court back to its original mandate under the Constitution.
Comme Julian Assange, je sais ce que ça fait d’être poursuivi pour des actes de journalisme (The Intercept)
Comme Julian Assange, je sais ce que ça fait d’être poursuivi pour des actes de journalisme Article originel : Like Julian Assange, I Know How It Feels to Be Prosecuted for Acts of Journalism Par James Risen The Intercept, 28.06.24 Le précédent le plus dangereux dans l’affaire Assange est l’idée que le gouvernement étatsunien peut décider comment définir le journalisme.
Like Julian Assange, I Know How It Feels to Be Prosecuted for Acts of Journalism
When Julian Assange abruptly found himself back in Australia and freedom this week after reaching a plea deal with the U.S. government, I found myself thinking back to my own marathon legal fight with the U.S. government and how it finally and suddenly ended. I waged a seven-year legal battle against the George W. Bush administration and later the Obama administration, both of which demanded I reveal the confidential sources I had relied on for story I wrote about a botched CIA operation.
To Understand the Trump Verdict, Look at the Case Against Shukhratjon Mirsaidov
The legal system cracked down on a New York fraudster last Thursday. Guilty of engaging in a complex scheme to move and hide money for his personal benefit, a former top executive must now face sentencing and the possibility of spending time in prison. But last Thursday’s court hearing for Shukhratjon Mirsaidov, during which he pleaded guilty to money laundering, was overshadowed by a differentwhite-collar criminal case in another New Yorkcourthouse on the same day.
These Convictions Thwart Trump’s Plan to Pardon Himself
Donald Trump is running for president to stay out of prison. But what happens if he has to run for president to try to stay out of prison — while he is already in prison? What if he is running from Rikers? On Thursday, that possibility became very real, very fast, after Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in a case in New York state court. The jury only deliberated for a day before issuing a sweeping verdict convicting him of charges related to paying hush money to a porn actress.
The Media Still Doesn’t Grasp the Danger of Trump
Donald Trump represents an existential threat to democracy in the United States. If he is elected president, he will try to become a dictator. That warning must be repeated, over and over again, so Americans don’t forget it in November. But that’s not the daily news that you will read or hear in the American press today.
The Media Still Doesn’t Grasp the Danger of Trump
Liberal View 12 hours ago 'Things grew very mad': Designer of template for Trump’s 'unified Reich' video speaks out alternet.org - Carl Gibson • 12h The controversial "unified Reich" ad for former President Donald Trump's 2024 — created by campaign aide Natalie Harp — actually has origins in … Nazism 16 hours ago The Night of the Long Knives: How the Nazis Purged the SA thecollector.com - Maria-Anita Ronchini • 16h On July 3, 1934, the Nazi Party newspaper Völkisch Beobachter ran the...
On Israel, Trump Is Even Worse Than Biden
To understand the state of American politics today when it comes to Gaza, Israel, and Palestine, just look at the very different ways in which the House of Representatives handled the cases of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, and Rep. Brian Mast, a Florida Republican. Tlaib was punished for her views on Israel and the war in Gaza. Mast was not. It’s not hard to figure out why.
Donald Trump and His Boomer Base
When the obituary of the baby-boom generation is finally written, they’ll have to mention Donald Trump in the very first paragraph to explain how a cohort that began with such idealism and promise turned so toxic. The generation that took to the streets in anti-war protests and civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s and championed the environmental and women’s movements in the 1970s has now retreated to right-wing retirement enclaves in Florida, where Fox News is always on in the background.
Donald Trump and His Boomer Base
When the obituary of the baby-boom generation is finally written, they’ll have to mention Donald Trump in the very first paragraph to explain how a cohort that began with such idealism and promise turned so toxic. The generation that took to the streets in anti-war protests and civil rights demonstrations in the 1960s and championed the environmental and women’s movements in the 1970s has now retreated to right-wing retirement enclaves in Florida, where Fox News is always on in the background.
Don’t Fall for the Third-Party Trick Original
American presidential elections are binary. Either a Democrat or a Republican wins. Nobody else. The 2024 presidential election will be between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. No matter how much Americans may wish for other candidates, that’s the choice. Third-party candidates don’t win, can’t win; they only steal votes from the mainstream Republican or Democratic candidate with whom they are most closely aligned. They help the candidate at the opposite end of the political spectrum.
Don’t Normalize Donald Trump
Donald Trump is a psychopathic criminal. He is a racist, fascist cult leader determined to destroy American democracy. Those facts must be repeated over and over this year, because so many Americans appear willing to re-elect him president. In the wake of his sweeping victory in the Iowa caucuses, Trump stands astride the ruins of the Republican Party, which he has transformed into a cult of MAGA zombies who believe every lie and conspiracy theory he spouts.
Federal Judges Have Shown Leniency in Nearly All Jan. 6 Cases
Federal judges handling the criminal cases of hundreds of people charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol have overwhelmingly issued sentences far more lenient than Justice Department prosecutors sought, an analysis by The Intercept reveals.
Not Israel’s 9/11, but a Prison Riot Original
The world has been struggling to find a good historical parallel for the vicious and horrific surprise attack Hamas launched against Israel on October 7. It is often said that 10/7 is the new 9/11. But 10/7 was more like a prison riot. For nearly two decades, the Gaza Strip has been bottled up and almost completely blocked off. It has been widely compared to an open-air prison.
How Neil Sheehan Really Got the Pentagon Papers
On the night of March 23, 1971, New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan excitedly called Max Frankel, the Times’s Washington bureau chief, to give him the news he had been waiting weeks to hear. “I got it all,” Sheehan told Frankel. Sheehan had just accomplished one of the greatest journalistic coups of the 20th century.
How Neil Sheehan Really Got the Pentagon Papers
How Neil Sheehan Really Got the Pentagon Papers On the night of March 23, 1971, New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan excitedly called Max Frankel, the Times’s Washington bureau chief, to give him the news he had been waiting weeks to hear. “I got it all,” Sheehan told Frankel. Sheehan had just accomplished one of the greatest journalistic coups of the 20th century.
"Remarkably Bright Creatures" By Shelby Van Pelt Original
Our guest today is author Shelby Van Pelt, speaking with us about her debut novel, Remarkably Bright Creatures. The book follows Tova Sullivan as she begins working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, following the death of her husband. Tova becomes acquainted with temperamental Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium, who knows more than he seems.
What to Watch: An update on the writers strike and a popular tv reboot
The writers strike may be finally over, so what does that mean for new movies and shows? Our resident movie critic George Prentice joined Idaho Matters to help answer that question and give us a few recommendations on what to watch. Idaho Matters MoviesWhat to watch
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