Top Story
Fri, Jul 07, 2023
Fri, Jul 07, 2023
The former president's attorneys have until July 13 to complete all "tasks required to obtain the requisite security clearances" in the federal case.
3 MIN READ
The Daily Debate
Our Political System Is Broken. Is a Third Party the Way to a Better America?
Top Stories
"Avoiding distractions is the key to staying focused," tweeted the Georgia Republican, who posted a video of herself playing golf.
2 MIN READ
- TRENDING
Welcome to the Bulletin,
- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has hit out at China's "unfair economic practices" and called for market reforms at the start of her four-day diplomatic visit to Beijing.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed his presidential campaign has received "record fundraising" unmatched in the "history of modern presidential politics" when pressed by Fox News on his 28-point opinion poll deficit against Donald Trump.
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has outlined a roadmap for Ukraine to become a member of the military alliance, telling this week's summit that the bloc will "reaffirm" an earlier commitment that Ukraine will join the alliance in the future.
- The white gunman who killed 23 people in a 2019 mass shooting at an El Paso Walmart is expected to be sentenced today. 24-year-old Patrick Crusius has pleaded guilty to 90 federal murder and hate crime charges after targeting Hispanic shoppers in the attack.
- Six people have died, and dozens more have been injured in an overnight fire at a retirement home in Milan. Three people remain in intensive care.
- 27 people have been hospitalized after a crash involving a double-decker tour bus and a city bus in Manhattan on Thursday evening, officials have confirmed.
- George Tickner, a founding member and rhythm guitarist of the rock group Journey, has died at the age of 76, his former bandmates have confirmed.
- In the ongoing war in Ukraine, the White House is set to announce a controversial package of cluster munition for Ukraine, despite numerous countries having banned such weapons due to their potential for causing civilian casualties.
If you like this newsletter, please share it. If you've been forwarded this email, you can sign up on Newsweek.com/newsletter. If you have any story tips, feedback or ideas for what we should do next, please email Emeri B. Montgomery at e.montgomery@newsweek.com. We appreciate your feedback and you starting your day with us.
TL/DR: Several questions remain about Rudy Farias' whereabouts over the past several years, including accusations that he was being hidden and abused by his mother, Janie Santana, during the near decade he was considered missing.
Private investigator Mark Renteria who worked on Rudy Farias' disappearance case back in 2015 told Newsweek that he believes the 25-year-old's recent reappearance is a "production" set up by his mother. The case has taken an odd turn after police said Farias wasn't missing for eight years after all but returned home the day after his mother, Janie Santana, reported him missing. Santana deceived authorities for years, investigators said, giving "fictitious names" and calling Farias her nephew when others spotted him. Police said Farias is a "potential victim" who hasn't made accusations against his mother despite allegations from others that she held him captive, drugged, and sexually abused him.
No charges have been filed, though the investigation is ongoing. Farias' aunts want charges brought against Santana. They also suggested Farias may now be with his mother's friend and not with Santana, as officers have said. An activist who raised the abuse allegations after seeing Farias is standing by his comments and believes Farias is "absolutely a victim."
What happens now? Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said investigators will share developing information “when it’s appropriate” to do so. Lieutenant Christopher Zamora said Farias and Santana both gave false names to police at one point, which is a criminal offense. It’s possible Santana could be detained for never informing police her son returned home, a Class C misdemeanor. However, it’s too early to know whether any charges will be filed.
TL/DR: "The act limits the punishment of 'harassment' to acts that would cause terror in a reasonable person. This seems pretty standard," constitutional law professor James Gardner told Newsweek.
A bill passed by the Democrat-led Michigan House that would make it a felony for people to intimidate or threaten others by disrespecting their gender identity — including by deliberately misgendering them — has sparked controversy over whether it violates the First Amendment. Some on the right criticized the bill due to a focus on gender identity. But is the bill unconstitutional? Simple answer: It's complicated.
Law professor Eric J. Segall told Newsweek that the measure "is probably in trouble under American law" — where it's legal to say something like "I think all gays and lesbians should be sent to prison" as long as it doesn't target one person. While a "true threat" is "not protected speech," the "law probably is unconstitutional, depending on how it's applied" when used to determine whether a person intended to use speech in a "reckless way," i.e. the person should have known that it would make someone feel threatened. "I don't know if it requires that face-to-face harassment," Segall said.
What happens now? The bill — a fraction of legislation that would replace the Ethnic Intimidation Act — will move to the state Senate and would need to be signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer if passed. Under the bill, offenders would be guilty “of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or by a fine of not more than $10,000." If the bill is appealed to the Supreme Court, it would be struck down by a majority of the justices, Segall said, adding: “There are two ways this law could be unconstitutional: one is that it goes beyond true threats; two, it kind of makes a content-based distinction in the statutes, and they're not allowed to do that,” Segall added. What Michigan could do is to "prohibit all true threats."
TL/DR: "I question whether the state party has the necessary expertise to spend the money well," former Michigan GOP donor Ron Weiser said.
Six top GOP donors stopped giving money to the Michigan or Arizona Republican parties because of their perceived support for the discredited claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Donald Trump and the party's extreme positions on issues, such as abortion, according to a new Reuters report. Arizona Republican donor Jim Click pulled funding from the party and will donate to individuals instead, saying it's "too bad we let the right wing of our party take over the operations."
Polling shows that Trump has a lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is his closest rival. However, concerns about the former president's impact on fundraising are likely to help DeSantis. According to campaign finance filings, the Arizona Republican party had just $50,000 in its state and federal bank accounts on March 31, down from nearly $770,000 four years ago, while the Michigan GOP had around $116,000 in its federal account on March 31, compared to almost $867,000 on the same date in 2021.
What happens now? Michigan Republicans, who suffered heavy losses in last year’s midterm elections, are facing an uphill battle to win the state in next year’s presidential election, especially following the Michigan GOP’s recent decision to award their delegates to next year’s Republican National Convention based on the results of party-run caucuses instead of the state’s primary, meaning those deemed to be dragging the party to the right will have more of a stronghold over the state. Arizona is not faring much better, and with both Michigan and Arizona serving as key swing states which could decide the election, GOP lawmakers in Washington will no doubt be watching the situation with concern.
TL/DR: "American and European citizens are hardly ready to march in orderly rows to the hell, into which the Zelensky government is dragging the entire planet," Ambassador Anatoly Antonov told Newsweek.
Russia's ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov dismissed reports that Moscow was planning a provocation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine, alleging that Kyiv was using the narrative to draw NATO into a "World War III" amid battlefield setbacks. He appealed to Ukraine and its allies to prevent an escalation. "American and European citizens are hardly ready to march in orderly rows to the hell, into which the [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky government is dragging the entire planet."
Antonov's comments come as Ukraine and Russia blame each other for planning to sabotage ZNPP. International Atomic Energy Agency experts said they found no explosives at the facility but would need additional access to investigate. A State Department spokesperson warned that Moscow should think "hard about whether they want to risk causing a nuclear catastrophe," as "the international community will absolutely hold Russia to account" if that happens.
What happens now? The U.S. and Western allies have expressed concerns over the tensions surrounding the nuclear plant. In Russia, a growing chorus of warnings is emerging from Russian lawmakers accusing Kyiv of planning attacks and blaming Moscow. Antonov noted the presence of Russian and IAEA personnel, and safeguards, saying the "reactors are protected." He also tied the dueling narratives surrounding the ZNPP to the NATO summit in Lithuania next week, saying: "Observers are actually playing along with the criminal intentions of the Ukrainian authorities.” Such intentions were "to use a terrorist attack in order to slander Russia as a 'nuclear terrorist,' to divert attention from the failed counteroffensive."
TL/DR: "Iran under [President Ebrahim] Raisi is trying to join regional alliances, as it believes that there is a new world order," political journalist Saeed Azimi told Newsweek, "and in this order, multipolarity dominates the unipolarity of the U.S. after the collapse of the USSR."
Iran has begun utilizing an even broader multilateral platform after becoming the ninth member of a regional bloc led by China and Russia in a bid to reestablish itself on the world stage. Iran's recent participation in the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Cold War movement, follows its accession to Shanghai Cooperation Organization and its application to join BRICS. These moves are Iran's message "to the U.S. and EU, stating that the country can come out of the isolation without reviving" the 2015 nuclear deal, political journalist Saeed Azimi told Newsweek.
Tehran isn't alone. Many U.S. partners have emphasized their commitment to "strategic autonomy" in global affairs. However, Azimi argued that "you can't possibly reject the influence of NATO" nor how "multipolarity is dynamically subject to change." For NAM members like India and Saudi Arabia, "the reason 'strategic autonomy' is the new flavor" is two-fold, analyst Mohammed Badrul Alam said. Firstly, "to manage competitive capitalism" effectively, and, secondly, to diversify "while keeping the core national interests" intact.
What happens now? President Raisi's "neighborhood policy" has produced a concerted effort to engage with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and others with whom Iran's relations have been strained, senior research fellow Abas Aslani said. Dubai-based editor Nader Itayim is skeptical of any significant Arab investment in Iran as long as U.S. sanctions remain in place but noted that there was a common quest for security. "There is a clear interest among these countries to compartmentalize those points of dispute, at least for now, to advance others.”
TL/DR: As life expectancy in the U.S. continues to slump, a discrepancy between red and blue states is growing at an alarming rate.
Residents in Democratic-leaning states experience an average life expectancy more than two years longer than their Republican counterparts, according to Newsweek analysis of World Population Review data. The data shows, on average, that people living in states in which President Joe Biden won in 2020 had a life expectancy in 2023 of 77.7 years, compared to 75.5 years in states where former President Donald Trump won.
Of the top 10 U.S. states by life expectancy, only one, Utah, backed Trump in 2020. Of the 10 states with the shortest life expectancy, only New Mexico voted for Biden in 2020. The national average is 76.6 years and varies greatly by state, from 80.7 years in Hawaii to 71.9 years in Mississippi. Figures released in 2022 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) showed U.S. life expectancy had dropped a full year from 2020, and now trails the Chinese figure for the first time.
What happens now? Almost all countries are bouncing back from a drop in life expectancy caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, while the U.S. looks set to continue to fall. This, according to experts, is due to an increase in other factors, including drug overdoses, poverty, food insecurity, and poor access to healthcare. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, believes that the U.S. should now borrow health policies from European nations, including universal or better-coordinated health care, more robust health and safety regulations, and education, noting that these policies are "paying off for them.”
I'm Gay and Muslim. I Saw Myself in the Quran
I am fourteen the year we read Surah Maryam in Quran class. We, as in the twenty-odd students in my grade, in the girls' section of the Islamic school that I attend in this rich Arab country that my family has moved to.
We are slogging through Surah Maryam painfully slowly, about ten verses at a time and I deliberately sit near the back of the class so we'll be done reading before my turn comes.
Today I'm composing a note on my calculator to my best friend, with whom I've been trying to come up with a code using numbers and symbols and the smattering of letters on the keyboards of our scientific calculators.
The Full STORY- "I think, you know, identifying Donald Trump as really being a pioneer in injecting gender ideology into the mainstream, where he was having men compete against women in his beauty pageants, I think that's totally fair game. Because he's now campaigning saying the opposite: That he doesn't think that you should have men competing in women's things like athletics," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said on conservative commentator Tomi Lahren's podcast when asked about a recent campaign ad attacking the former president for his history with the LGBTQ+ community.
- "Many questions remain at the end of the court's latest term regarding its reputation, credibility, and 'honorable' status. I'm sorry to see Chief Justice Roberts end the term without taking action on the ethical issues plaguing the court," Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said as calls for Supreme Court ethics reform continue.
- "Geez, Donald Trump Jr. is a bit of a sore loser. His dad lost an election fair and square—but he says it was stolen. Now he's trying to blame the Australian government for his poor ticket sales and canceled tour. Donald Trump Jr. has been given a visa to come to Australia. He didn't get canceled. He's just a big baby, who isn't very popular," Australian Home Minister Clare O'Neil said in a series of tweets that have since been deleted.
- The closely watched employment report for June is due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists predict nonfarm payrolls to increase by about 225,000 jobs after surging to 339,000 in May.
- President Joe Biden is slated to discuss a "significant" announcement about health cost savings today at the White House. Biden will travel to London on Saturday ahead of the 74th NATO Summit taking place next week in Lithuania. He is expected to meet with King Charles III and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak while in the United Kingdom.
- Donald Trump will hold a campaign event in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He is expected to speak at 1 p.m. CDT following an Agriculture Policy Panel Discussion at the Mid-America Center. Trump will visit Las Vegas on Saturday to speak at a Nevada Volunteer Recruitment Event.
Trending
Opinion
The Debate
VS
VS
VS
VS
VS
VS
VS
VS
PodcastThe Debate
A public forum dedicated to civil debate on the most hot-button issues of the day, Newsweek's The Debate features passionate discourse between our guests while also highlighting common ground.
Listen
NewsletterThe Debate |
The best of our opinion section, debates & podcasts. Featuring intellectually diverse opinions.
Sign UpRussia-Ukraine War
"American and European citizens are hardly ready to march in orderly rows to...hell," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov tells Newsweek.
5 MIN READ
- TRENDING In Russia-Ukraine War
Culture
Two of the world's most successful recording artists are on world tours right now, but which one has more fans?
3 MIN READ
- TRENDING In Culture
podcastThe Parting Shot
Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott delivers your weekly dose of celebrity interviews and pop culture with the Parting Shot podcast.
listen
newsletterFor The Culture
For the Culture newsletter is your weekly resource in TV, music, movies and celebrity life to keep you in the know.
sign upMy Turn
There are other women like me in the Quran. Women who are uninterested in men.
8 MIN READ
Travel
Several TikTok users criticized the passenger in the latest viral clip, with one writing the move was "the dumbest thing ever."
2 MIN READ
Videos
In the magazine
July 21 issue
Exclusive: The CIA's Blind Spot about the Ukraine War
EXCLUSIVE: Russian Military Uses China in Sourcing Banned Tech from 59 U.S. Firms
The Best Dog-Friendly Travel Destinations Around the World
Tiffany Haddish Puts Her Love of a 'Mystery' to Use in 'The Afterparty'
SPONSORED INSIGHT
SPONSORED INSIGHT
Podcasts
Podcasts
- Newsweek magazine delivered to your door
- Unlimited access to Newsweek.com
- Ad free Newsweek.com experience
- iOS and Android app access
- All newsletters + podcasts
- Unlimited access to Newsweek.com
- Ad free Newsweek.com experience
- iOS and Android app access
- All newsletters + podcasts
Editor's Picks
What are Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin thinking? The Agency doesn't know, a Newsweek investigation reveals.
18 MIN READ
Pivotal decisions loom over the 74-year-old alliance as the West's collective confrontation with Moscow—and possibly Beijing—deepens.
9 MIN READ
U.S.
The House Oversight Committee chairman said depositions could also begin soon and continue through the end of summer.
4 MIN READ
World
2 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
"Iran under Raisi is trying to join regional alliances, as it believes that there is a new world order," Iranian journalist Saeed Azimi tells Newsweek.
9 MIN READ
Business
Social media users have posted footage of Anheuser-Busch beer stacked high next to near-empty shelves of other brands.
2 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
Technology and Science
2 MIN READ
4 MIN READ
1 MIN READ
1 MIN READ
The footprints were from the Late Cretaceous period and belonged to a huge, armored dinosaur.
1 MIN READ
Sports
"Look very happy with someone who likes taking their ring off on live television for another guy!" one Instagram user commented.
1 MIN READ
3 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
2 MIN READ
3 MIN READ
Expert Forum
4 MIN READ
3 MIN READ
4 MIN READ
4 MIN READ
Today, we have more tools available for remote team-building than ever — but you can't assume the team will build itself.
4 MIN READ
