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Cynthia Hope Laub

@bloomlove.bsky.social
3.4K followers 2.7K following 7.5K posts

Flowers, flowers, flowers…🌻 I want to leave this world better than when I got here. SMASH THE PATRIARCHY NO DM’S

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Reposted by Cynthia Hope Laub
emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Comey's MTD notes that Trump has made more explicit threats than 8647 (tho leaves out Milley and Mike Pence). storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The President himself has often used this type of rhetoric. Recently, President Trump
asserted that a video posted by several Members of Congress criticizing military policy was
“punishable by death” and was cause for “hang[ing] them.” Ana Faguy & Brandon Drenon, Trump
Says He Was ‘Not Threatening Death’ to Democrats over Video to Troops, BBC News (Nov. 21,
2025), https://perma.cc/C8AU-8UFA. During the 2016 presidential campaign, President Trump
remarked that if Hillary Clinton were elected, “Second Amendment people” might be the only
ones who could stop her. US Election: Anger over Donald Trump Gun Rights Remarks, BBC News (Aug. 10, 2016), https://perma.cc/GAV5-8XFG. And while discussing former
Representative Liz Cheney, President Trump said: “She’s a radical war hawk. Let’s put her with
a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, OK? Let’s see how she feels about it, you
know, when the guns are trained on her face.” Sam Cabral, Trump Says Cheney Wouldn’t Be ‘War
Hawk’ if ‘Guns are Trained on Her’, BBC News (Nov. 1, 2024), https://perma.cc/P6NP-5ZSE.
As one district court explained when dismissing a threats indictment, if the President may use
“coarse” and violent language “from the highest office in the land,” then “surely a [private] citizen
should likewise be allowed to vent his grievances.” Cook, 472 F. Supp. 3d at 336-37.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Comey's MTD makes an interesting historical argument. I guess this is for Sammy Alito's benefit. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Beginning in the fourteenth century, English law made it illegal to “compass or imagine
the Death of our Lord the King.” John G. Bellamy, The Law of Treason in England in the Later Middle Ages 87 (1970); see Treason Act of 1351, 25 Edw. 3 Stat 5 c. 2; Note, Threats to Take the
Life of the President, 32 Harv. L. Rev. 724, 725 (1919). That prohibition was interpreted to include
“treason by words,” under which “[w]ords themselves were regarded as the overt act of treasons.”
Bellamy, supra at 116. The treason statute was enforced against citizens who made general
statements opposing the King—for instance, that the kingdom would have been better off “if the
king had never been born.” Id. at 118. Likewise, a man was indicted for “predict[ing] that the
king would ‘soon die, with a view to alienate the affections’ of the people.” Watts, 394 U.S. at
709 (Douglas, J., concurring). Prosecutions for “compassing the king’s death” thus became a
“principal instrument” to “suppress a wide range of political opposition.” James Willard Hurst,
The Law of Treason in the United States: Selected Essays 153 (1971).
The Founders repudiated this British practice. As one court explained, the Constitution
rejects “the days of ‘constructive treasons,’” when “[m]en were hung, drawn, and quartered for
‘imagining’ the death of the King.” State v. Van Pelt, 49 S.E. 177, 181 (N.C. 1904). Specifically,
Article III, Section 3 narrowly defines “Treason against the United States” to “consist only in
levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.” And
it omits “any provision analogous to that in English law which punished compassing the death of
the king.” James Willard Hurst, Treason in the United States, 58 Harv. L. Rev. 395, 411 (1945).
James Madison explained that Article III, Section 3 imposed “a barrier to th[e] peculiar danger”
of allowing “new-fangled and artificial treasons.” The Federalist No. 43 (James Madison).
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Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
zeteo.com/p/trump-iran...
zeteo.com
Why Trump Has ‘No F*cking Way Out’ of His Failed Iran War
Trump’s not ready to fully wave the white flag, but his team is also largely ‘too scared’ to tell the president a ‘massive’ escalation against Iran won’t work, sources tell Zeteo.
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Rita Moore @ritamoore.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Important corollary: people are LESS likely to support authoritarian leaders if people around them don't. This is where "social proof" comes in. Be vocal and visible to social circles and neighbors about your resistance against authoritarians AND your support of pro-democracy candidates and causes
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Dave Levitan @davelevitan.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
The ongoing Musk nazi tweets just have me wondering if corporate boards are even a thing anymore
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
A Modest Proposal: Since Stephen Miller insists Haitians must be deported to Haiti, which is not habitable, why should we have to wait for Katie and Elon to self-deport to the moon until it is habitable?
We’re going to the moon and mars with Starship.
Quote
Polymarket
@Polymarket
·
Jul 25
JUST IN: SpaceX’s Starship successfully completes its softest splashdown yet in the Indian Ocean.

56% chance Starship is fully reusable before 2027.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
We know this, in part, bc the states sued (as well as some people who lost grants).
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TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 27/07/2026
This case illustrates why we must not allow Meta to normalise its pervert glasses.
irishtimes.com
Lorcan Murphy’s use of ‘spy pen’ to record women in Dublin part of ‘path to future crime’
The Dubliner was jailed this month for murdering US nurse Mackenzie Michalski in Hungary
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Top 0.01% of all Todds @toddadam.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
1. American taxpayers are spending $2 BILLION every year providing Medicaid benefits to hundreds of thousands of employees of Amazon and Walmart, a new analysis by Popular Information reveals.
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Luke Kawa @ljkawa.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
An extremely well-deserved victory lap from Bishop: The “index crossed into TACO territory on Wednesday and shot through its three key precedents on Thursday,” with pivot said to begin “after President Trump’s ‘mindset started to change on Thursday evening’”
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
BREAKING: A statement from the Office of the Attending Physician says Mitch McConnell "is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office." A photo from McConnell's office:
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Cynthia Hope Laub @bloomlove.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
STATES RUN ELECTIONS
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
The sigh I let out when Jay sent me this notice. I looked them up. Because I like punishing myself.
Gerry, Callahan, and Taylor
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Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Update: Kagan denied this request for a stay.
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Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · 27/07/2026
The Justice Department is requesting that the NAACP's Clean Air Act citizen enforcement against an xAI data center be dismissed for national security reasons. @energylawprof.bsky.social explains how this novel strategy exemplifies how security claims are reshaping energy permitting.
lawfaremedia.org
Powering Data Centers and the Permitting Problem
The Justice Department’s bid to nix a Clean Air Act suit against xAI’s turbines shows how security claims reshape energy permitting.
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Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
In Cisco, #SCOTUS not only (unpersuasively) eviscerated the Alien Tort Statute, but it effectively neutered a 22-year-old precedent for no other reason than that the Republican appointees disagree w/ it. Today’s “One First” goes deep into the ruling—and why stare decisis is really *is* for suckers:
stevevladeck.com
240. The Rise and Fall of the Alien Tort Statute
The Court's June 23 ruling in Cisco was significant not only for what it means for human rights accountability, but for the justices' approach to stare decisis.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
There's a lot of people newly paying attention to Zelenskyy's eye on Iran. I think if Ukraine can DEFINITIVE show Trump is knowingly lying abt RU and China helping Iran it would corner him somewhat. That may be why Ukraine struck a ship in the Caspian (Israel previously struck a port there).
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Jason Koebler @jasonkoebler.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
extremely lucky to still make a living writing on the internet. we have many supporters/subscribers and i'm mostly an optimistic person. then i see something like this and i want to scream forever into a pillow. AI account ripping off our reporting about AI ripping off authors, goes viral, no link
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
What do you want to bet this position will end up doing something exceedingly corrupt to help Jared Kushner? www.justice.gov/legal-career...
Resident Legal Advisor, Albania
Share right caret
Hiring Organization
Criminal Division (CRM)
Hiring Office
Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance and Training
Attorney Appointment Type
Attorney Detail
Job ID
26-CRM-DET-027
Location:
Tirana - Albania
Application Deadline:
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
About the Office
While this vacancy announcement expires on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, the announcement may be closed at any time if a selection is made. This assignment is for a period of 14 months, beginning in or about October 2026, with the possibility of extension, contingent on the availability of funding. Appointment to this position will be through a reimbursable detail.

The Criminal Division’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training (OPDAT) builds strong foreign partners who can work with the United States to enhance cooperation in transnational cases and to fight crime before it reaches our shores. OPDAT has experienced prosecutors posted around the world providing expert assistance and strategic guidance to foreign counterparts in order to combat transnational crime and terrorism in furtherance of U.S. national security.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
WSJ has now covered the Caspian strike. As I've noted, Israel already struck Iran in the Caspian, and obviously Iran has been involved in Ukraine from the start. www.wsj.com/world/two-wa...
wsj.com
Two Wars Converge in the Caspian Sea as Ukraine Hits Iranian Supply Line to Russia
Tehran is threatening retaliation for long-range drone strikes that highlight its ties with Moscow.
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
“.. Despite all this government backing, Oracle’s stock price has been on a wild round trip to nowhere .. “.. S&P Global Ratings downgraded the .. debt to one level above junk, and the threat of a Moody’s Ratings cut looms.” @markgongloff.bsky.social $ORCL $PSKY www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
“The Ellisons Aren’t Having the Best Year” @opinion.bloomberg.com
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Cynthia Hope Laub @bloomlove.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
☎️ ☎️ ☎️
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Scott MacFarlane @macfarlanenews.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
“Complaint fails to state a viable defamation claim against Defendants. First, Director Patel does not plausibly allege that Defendants published any challenged statement from the Article with ‘actual malice” The Atlantic asks court to dismiss Kash Patel’s lawsuit
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Statement from Abbe Lowell and Marilyn Bednarski, my emphasis:
"Today, the government filed a notice of its intent to dismiss the charge against David Huerta. When this becomes final, it means this case is gone forever.

"We said from the outset that this prosecution had no legal basis. David Huerta was arrested for peacefully protesting outside an ICE operation, exercising rights protected by the First Amendment.  This case, like others, sought to silence criticism of the administration’s improper immigration actions.  Today's filing is proof that David and other critics will not be silenced. 

*"This case revealed that the Department of Justice was willing to charge a labor leader with a crime, hold it over him for months, and then walk away from it once the charge couldn't survive scrutiny.* That is not how a justice system is supposed to work. 

"Our country needs more brave leaders like David Huerta to stand up for the wrongs they see around them."
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 21/07/2026
“My brother is just a vessel. It’s like they have to have a body to put in jail. And unfortunately, that happens to be my brother.” Much more here from Ana Bell, brother of Prairieland defendant Daniel “Des” Sanchez Estrada, who spoke with me not long after the anniversary of her brother’s arrest:
newrepublic.com
My Brother Was Sentenced to 30 Years for Moving a Box of Zines
The sister of a defendant in the Prairieland case, which targeted Texas ICE protesters, speaks out.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
One could write a Masters thesis on the differential response this video has gotten on all the different social media platforms. On Xitter, unsurprisingly, it is disgusting.
Michael Lange
@MichaelLangeNYC
This is now Zohran Mamdani's most viewed video — EVER — across all platforms.

70M+ views on Instagram.
53M+ impressions on Twitter.
16M+ views on TikTok.

And counting...
Quote
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani
@NYCMayor
·
18h
Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.

[2:09 video explaining why he can't arrest Bibi]

6:29 PM · Jul 22, 2026
·
57.1K
 Views
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Cynthia Hope Laub @bloomlove.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
GOOD STUFF
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David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
The perspective you need on the proposed Trump Saudi nuclear deal from a man with deep knowledge and a special perspective on it, @jonatomic.bsky.social. Must read. newrepublic.com/article/2133...
newrepublic.com
Trump’s Nuclear Deal With Saudi Arabia Looks More Like a Favor
The agreement includes a number of worrying U.S. concessions, raising concerns that Saudi Arabia is taking advantage of its close financial ties to the Trump family.
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
“More than 150 medics have arrived at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany in recent days. “The hospital is the primary location for treating troops injured in combat in the Middle East.” www.wsj.com/world/middle...
wsj.com
U.S. Surges Forces Toward Middle East, Giving Trump Options to Expand Iran War
The influx of troops, medics and weaponry follows the deaths of three U.S. soldiers in an Iranian attack at a base in Jordan.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"Kiss My Ass:" Trump Looses the Nukes to Placate Crown Prince Bonesaw emptywheel.net/2026/07/23/k...
emptywheel.net
"Kiss My Ass:" Trump Looses the Nukes to Placate Crown Prince Bonesaw - emptywheel
At a time when the Saudis are cutting back spending, partly in response to the Iran War Trump started and failed to defend Saudi Arabia from, Trump agreed to give them nukes.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
More Concerns about the Investigative Misconduct by Harmeet Dhillon's Team emptywheel.net/2026/07/23/m...
emptywheel.net
More Concerns about the Investigative Misconduct by Harmeet Dhillon's Team - emptywheel
A second Cities Church defendant, Thomas Tier, has complained about the use of Customs summonses to get communication records and other evidence in violation of the law.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"Kiss My Ass:" Trump Looses Nukes to Placate Crown Prince Bonesaw (Updated, with Trump's attempted TACO) emptywheel.net/2026/07/23/k...
emptywheel.net
"Kiss My Ass:" Trump Looses Nukes to Placate Crown Prince Bonesaw - emptywheel
At a time when the Saudis are cutting back spending, partly in response to the Iran War Trump started and failed to defend Saudi Arabia from, Trump agreed to give them nukes.
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emptywheel @emptywheel.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I remind, again, that the lady in charge of protecting against such violations of civil rights is, herself, a Sikh immigrant.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 22/07/2026
THREAD: Join me on a trip down memory lane given the news that Trump has inked a nuclear deal with the Saudis (in the middle of a war he started to end nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.) Who remembers The Middle East Marshall Plan from Trump 1.0? 1/ www.wsj.com/world/middle...
wsj.com
Exclusive | Trump Approves Landmark Nuclear Deal With Saudi Arabia in Big Win for Kingdom
The deal could mean large profits for American companies but also is likely to raise concerns about nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 23/07/2026
BREAKING: Jim Jordan has referred Jack Smith to the DOJ for a perjury investigation. They say he lied when he said the toll records he got didn't include text message content. Which is true. The text messages Smith got came from the Archives. www.cbsnews.com/news/house-c...
cbsnews.com
House committee urges DOJ to charge former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith
The GOP chair of the House Judiciary Committee encouraged the DOJ to look into criminally charging Jack Smith, alleging the former special counsel who brought charges against President Trump lied to C...
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JJ in DC @jjindc.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The TYSON callsign
 ICE tried to hide these airplanes
 Not invisible
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 23/07/2026
NEW: The Senate DEFEATS the war powers resolution the House just passed. Fetterman voted with republicans. Collins votes with dems. Murkowski and Rand Paul didn't vote. www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-...
cbsnews.com
Senate fails to advance latest attempt to limit Trump's Iran war powers
The Senate rejected an attempt to rein in President Trump's war powers in Iran, soon after the House adopted a separate measure rebuking the president amid escalations in the conflict in recent days.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 23/07/2026
1956 Republican National platform.
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Allison Gill @muellershewrote.com · 23/07/2026
I'd vote for Van Hollen to be Senate Majority Leader. Just my two cents :)
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The DC Circuit won't reinstate Trump's effort to create a brand new deportation process at the border that's untethered to anything in the Immigration and Nationality Act and directly contradicts extensive other provisions of the law. Good.
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
For nearly an hour during the hearing, Judge Arun Subramanian grilled DOJ attorneys over their handling of the subpoenas and accompanying docs. DOJ admitted that it made statements that were “not correct” in its filings to the magistrate judge, but claimed the errors were “inadvertent.”
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Cynthia Hope Laub @bloomlove.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
YAYYYYYYY
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
JUST IN: A day after the 2nd Circuit upheld the detention of Columbia activist Mohsen Mahdawi, the 4th Circuit goes the other way, upholding the *release* of Georgetown research Badar Khan Suri. 2-1 ruling. s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28...
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
And here's another one: Judge Ellison says the 5th circuit stay has no bearing on him. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
So far, it appears the district judges in CA5 are operating as though this stay ruling does not bind them. Here's the latest from Judge Saldana, who acknowledges it but says the lack of analysis means there's nothing to follow. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
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alex benzer @alexbenzer.com · 23/07/2026
there was a recent bug in the Bluesky app that caused some people's chat permission settings to switch to "No one" we already fixed the bug, but folks may want to double-check their settings to make sure they are set the way they want. go here: bsky.app/messages/set... look for these settings:
Screenshot of the chat notification settings in the Bluesky app.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
A federal magistrate judge has ruled that Trump must turn over detailed financial information in connection with his defamation lawsuit against the BBC. The decision opened the door for the BBC to explore the finances of more than 400 companies owned by a Trump family trust.
politico.com
Judge says Trump must hand over financial records to BBC
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
BREAKING: For the second time in as many months, the House just voted to curb Trump's authority in Iran. The measure cleared 214-208, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in support.
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