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It’s 100% Right to Admire Obama—and 100% Wrong to Emulate Him

The opening of Barack Obama’s presidential library in Chicago this Friday has inspired a new round of conversations around his remarkable rise and presidency. And there’s so much to celebrate. The election of a Black president was a landmark event in American history. From the Affordable Care Act to the legalization of gay marriage, Obama and his team helped advance a wide swath of policies that…

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Democratic Progressives Are Winning Primaries Everywhere. Here’s Why.

Abdul El-Sayed ran for governor of Michigan in 2018, emphasizing his progressive views and endorsement from Senator Bernie Sanders. He didn’t gain much traction and ultimately lost by more than 20 percentage points in the Democratic primary to Gretchen Whitmer, who was backed by the party’s center-left establishment. Eight years later, El-Sayed, now seeking a U.S. Senate seat, is running the same…

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Tarar calls for end to differences over AJKLA refugee seats via democratic means

ISLAMABAD: As the PPP’s Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) chapter on Sunday urged the region’s election commission to withdraw the election schedule for 12 refugee seats in the Legislative Assembly, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar called for a resolution to differences through democratic and constitutional means.

Ahead of the July 27 elections in AJK, the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) had…

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weeklyOSM 829

04/06/2026-10/06/2026

[1] Playground map ‘Spieli’ | © m_fuhrmann | map data © by OpenStreetMap Contributors.

Community

  • Anne-Karoline Distel announced that a new video on mapping historic lifting stones is now available on YouTube. Historically, lifting stones were used to test the physical strength of men.
  • The MapLibre May 2026 newsletter has been published, authored by Bart…
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House Republicans Give Wild Defenses of Trump’s Shady Slush Fund

Republicans are going all out to convince the American people that President Trump’s $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund for his MAGA allies is actually a good thing.

Representative James Comer proclaimed that there’s a “need” for the slush fund.

“The things they tried to convict him of—it was a joke,” he said Friday. “So I think that there is a need for it. What the president needs to do…

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weeklyOSM 825

07/05/2026-13/05/2026

[1] A walking tracker for Apple watchOS | © David Smith | map data © by OpenStreetMap Contributors.

Mapping

  • Comments are requested on this proposal:
    • data_center:tier, data_center:total_power, data_center:IT_power, data_center:IT_area, proposed by LunaLune, to extend telecom=data_center features with standardised technical attributes such as…
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Iran war costs soar past $29bn as truce teeters

• Before taking off on long-awaited China trip, Trump vows to ‘win peacefully or otherwise’
• Tehran expands Hormuz control as EU mulls post-war naval mission
• Wall Street Journal claims UAE launched strikes on Iranian energy facility last month
• Pakistan pushes China, Azerbaijan on ME peace; earns praise from US president for being ‘absolutely great’ mediator

WASHINGTON: As prospects for…

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‘Saudi pressure’ led US to pause Hormuz project: NBC

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump’s decision to pause a US operation to escort commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz reportedly followed pressure from Saudi Arabia, according to an NBC News report citing two US officials.

The operation, dubbed Project Freedom, was unexpectedly announced by Trump on social media on Sunday and began on Monday. However, US allies in the Gulf were…

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weeklyOSM 823

23/04/2026-29/04/2026

[1] A new national pastime in Australia: the sport of Payphone Tag | © Alex Allchin | map data © by OpenStreetMap Contributors.

Mapping

  • Comments are requested on this proposal:
    • terminal=yes to consistently map goods terminals and better describe connected transport modes and handled cargo.
  • The following proposal is up for a vote:
    • highway=service
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Anarchists at the 2026 No Kings Rallies : Reports from around the Country

Ahead of the third No Kings worldwide day of protest on March 28, we published a call for anarchists to engage with the rallies as an opportunity to draw people into more concrete forms of organizing and action, and offered handouts for that purpose. Here, we share highlights and reports from some of the participants in the day’s events.

Organizers claim that a total of eight million…

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Republicans’ 11th-Hour Gerrymandering Plot Flops in Another Red State

After Democrats snagged a likely House seat in Salt Lake City County, Utah, in February, the GOP was furious. Republicans control all four House districts in Utah, and despite about 40 percent of residents voting Democrat in 2024, they considered losing even one unacceptable.

The new maps led to GOP lawmakers launching a petition to try to put the anti-gerrymandering law that had created the…

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Pakistan stands ‘ready, honoured’ to host US-Iran talks, says PM Shehbaz

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Pakistan stood “ready and honoured” to host “meaningful and conclusive talks” between the US and Iran.

“Pakistan welcomes and fully supports ongoing efforts to pursue dialogue to end the war in the Middle East, in the interest of peace and stability in the region and beyond,” he said in a post on the social media platform X.

“Subject to…

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Pakistan in the limelight as US, Iran ‘open backchannel’

• Efforts alongside Egypt and Turkiye seen as key to pausing threatened US strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure
• Administration sources say diplomatic efforts saw Islamabad leveraging its position as ‘net regional stabiliser’
• PM speaks to Pezeshkian, Dar calls Araghchi; White House ‘kept in the loop’
• Islamabad floated as ‘possible venue’ for talks

ISLAMABAD: On the 24th day of the…

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FO confirms engagement with China to reduce Kabul tensions

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Thursday acknowledged that Pakistan was engaging with Beijing on the issue of the recent Pakistan-Afghanistan border hostilities.

During his weekly briefing, spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said that Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar had recently held a phone call with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, adding that Islamabad and Beijing “cherish…

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The Abundance Gang Has a Big AI Problem

In early February, Axios reported that “Ezra Klein’s Abundance movement is getting some backup” in the form of a new group: Next American Era, headed by former Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee head, Illinois congresswoman, and longtime Washington insider Cheri Bustos. Bustos’s group, per the report, would be committed to “‘pro-growth,’ deregulatory policies.” This is hardly surprising;…

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Canada’s Oil Province Wants Out

Alberta’s sovereigntists are flirting with the Trump administration while promising freedom from Ottawa. But independence would expose the province's narrow oil economy to capital flight, brain drain, and serious fiscal strain.


Alberta’s sovereigntists promise liberation from Ottawa while courting allies in Washington. Their rhetoric is heavy on grievance but light on vital…

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In France, the Far Right Has Its Martyr

French far-right activist Quentin Deranque has died from injuries sustained in a street battle with anti-fascist activists. Conservative media is using his death to whip up a moral panic about France Insoumise, painting it as a violent insurgent threat.


Much of France’s right-wing political and media ecosystem has sought to lionize Quentin Deranque as a nationalist martyr. (Sameer…

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Call of Duty: Mobile’a 2. sezon güncellemesi; işte oyuna gelen yenilikler

12 Şubat’ta Call of Duty: Mobile 2. Sezon – Ay Şarjı ile yeni bir Ay Yeni Yılı kutlaması başlıyor. Hayranların favorisi olan Yağma modu, DMZ: Recon, Çok Oyunculu ve Battle Royale’de yeni içerik ve güncellemelerle birlikte, 2. sezonun tamamı boyunca sınırlı süreli bir mod olarak uzun zamandır beklenen çıkışını yapıyor. DMZ: Recon bu sezonda iki yeni sözleşme etkinliği, 21. Bina’da yeni bir boss ve…

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