JD Vance and the politics of vegetarianism in a red-meat Republican Party
Politics

JD Vance and the politics of vegetarianism in a red-meat Republican Party

Politics tamfitronics The ebullient audience at the Republican National Convention was ready to be served up some red meat, but Usha Chilukuri Vance, onstage to introduce her husband, vice presidential candidate JD Vance, delivered the exact opposite. “Although he’s a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and learned to cook food from my mother — Indian food,” she said.If it was an applause line, it didn’t have the intended effect, eliciting a few “whoops” and sparse clapping. She pressed on, joking about her husband’s beard and eventually eliciting a “JD!” chant.For some, the speech last month raised a dietary question both in the senator’s home state of Ohio and abroad. ...
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Tim Walz appears at California fundraiser after defending military service – as it happened
Politics

Tim Walz appears at California fundraiser after defending military service – as it happened

Politics tamfitronics Politics tamfitronics Walz defends military service in first solo campaign appearanceSpeaking of the Harris campaign, the vice-president’s newly minted running mate, Tim Walztoday made his first solo campaign appearance at a convention of union members.The Minnesota governor gave a wide-ranging speech in which he attacked Donald Trump and cheered the power of organized labor, while also taking time to respond to attacks from the former president and his supporters, who say Walz has exaggerated his military service.Here’s what he said in response, at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’s annual convention:"I am damn proud of my service to this country. And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person's service record."— Amid GOP attacks, Tim Walz defends the timing of his decision to retire from the National Guard in...
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Kamala Harris campaign says it was targeted by foreign hackers
Politics

Kamala Harris campaign says it was targeted by foreign hackers

Politics tamfitronics Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign has confirmed it was warned by the FBI it had been targeted by a foreign influence campaign, triggering renewed fears over foreign interference in US elections.The disclosure – reported by NBC – came after Donald Trump’s campaign claimed it had been hacked in an email phishing attempt, suspected to have been carried out by Iran.The FBI has confirmed in a statement it is investigating foreign hacking attempts against the campaigns.Harris’s campaign insisted on Tuesday its cybersecurity measures had prevented its systems from being hacked.“We have robust cybersecurity measures in place, and are not aware of any security breaches of our systems resulting from those efforts,” the campaign told NBC.But the confirmation of the FBI’s warning evoked memories of the 2016 campaign, when Russia was widely believed to have hacked...
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The state rep who sparked Colorado’s fire recovery
Politics

The state rep who sparked Colorado’s fire recovery

Politics tamfitronics Hello, and welcome back to State of Emergency, a limited-run newsletter about how disasters are reshaping our politics. I’m Jake Bittle, a reporter for Grist, and I’ll be writing this newsletter along with my colleague, Zoya Teirstein.It’s almost a truism that disasters offer an opportunity for positive change. That’s the idea behind President Joe Biden’s promise to “build back better” after the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s also the reason FEMA has poured billions of dollars into post-disaster adaptation projects. But in the five years I’ve spent covering climate disasters, I have almost never seen a place change for the better after a big flood or wildfire. Displaced victims scatter to hotels and rental apartments, developers and local lawmakers rush to rebuild everything the way it was, and...
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