https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/30/ice-agents-southern-california-shooting
Friday, October 31, 2025
Trump administration wants to block some public servants from loan forgiveness - The Washington Post
Those who work with undocumented immigrants, provide gender transition care for minors or publicly protest could be blocked from student loan forgiveness under a new rule…
Former CEO of My Faith Votes Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Possession - MinistryWatch
The probable cause statement also includes descriptions of eight of the images, which allegedly include children between 5 and 7 years of age…
According to its website, "My Faith Votes is a non-partisan movement that motivates, equips and activates Christians in America to vote in every election, transforming our communities and influencing our nation with biblical truth."…
Indiana high school cancels Jodi Picoult play in act she calls 'censorship'
"Even with the licensed edits, there were still sexual innuendos and alcohol references that I couldn't, in good conscience, allow in a public school performance," Fewell said…
In a Facebook post earlier this month, Picoult alleged that the complaint about the play came from a single parent who objected to the original text having a non-binary character. The amended production did not reference the character's gender identity, according to Picoult…
Trump directs nuclear testing plans ahead of meeting with China’s Xi - The Washington Post
There have been more than 2,000 nuclear test explosions around the world since 1945, but most countries stopped nuclear testing in the 1990s. China's last nuclear explosion occurred in 1996, and Moscow's was in 1990, during the dying days of the Soviet Union. The rare exception was the most recent nuclear test conducted by North Korea, a pariah state, in 2017...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/29/trump-nuclear-test-plans/
Kennedy: No sufficient evidence for Tylenol-autism link
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said there is not "sufficient" evidence that Tylenol causes autism, softening warnings he and President Trump have repeatedly made to discourage the medicine's use by pregnant women and young children…
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5582061-kennedy-trump-tylenol-autism/
The Lie Trump Can’t Stop Telling Gets Brutally FACT-CHECKED on Air!
CNN’s Jake Tapper just called out Donald Trump for spreading another blatant lie, this time claiming grocery prices are “way down” under his administration. Tapper breaks down the numbers and proves, once again, that Trump’s economic spin doesn’t match reality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6-X6vByw1Q
Revealed: ICE violates its own policy by holding people in secretive rooms for days or weeks | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) | The Guardian
Across the country, ICE has been criticized for its use of holding facilities, which are not subjected to traditional audits, inspections and general oversight that larger ICE detention centers are required to face.
Now, advocates and former ICE officials are sounding the alarm that their extended use puts people in unsafe conditions, raises the risk of abuse and medical neglect, and violates due process rights. The facilities are secretive and face minimal oversight, and detainees have very little contact with family members or attorneys...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/30/ice-hidden-detention-sites
The Deceptive Phrase Behind Trump’s Medicaid Purge – Mother Jones
When politicians say "able-bodied," it's a roundabout way of downplaying the challenges faced by people who have been left behind yet deemed capable enough to contribute to capitalism. But their language fails to hide the true message: The state does not want to help you…
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/medicaid-rfkjr-able-bodied-keyword-mother-tongue/
Blow to hard right as Geert Wilders’s PVV loses seats in Dutch election - The Washington Post
Wednesday's election became a microcosm of competing visions in the West, with Wilders representing a staunchly anti-migrant and populist view in line with the U.S. MAGA movement and far-right parties across Europe, including France's National Rally.
Jetten's party embraced optimism, the politics of civility, affordable housing and a green agenda. "The positive forces have won!" Jetten posted on X. "I want to get to work for all Dutch people, because this is the land of us all!"
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/10/30/netherlands-election-results-geert-wilders-rob-jetten/
Tucker Carlson’s Lovefest With a White Nationalist Just Blew Up the Christian Right – Mother Jones
"During his first term, Taylor noted, Trump made strong connections with influential figures in the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, a charismatic Christian movement that teaches followers to take "dominion" over all aspects of society, including government. Over the last decade or so, Christian Zionism has become an important part of NAR theology—so much so that during worship, some adherents now wear Jewish prayer shawls and blow shofars, the ram's horn instruments that ancient Israelites used to call troops to battle and still features in some Jewish holidays. This is an example of what Taylor refers to as philosemitism—the idea of loving Jewish customs and cultures. But within end-times theology lurks a dark side to Christian Zionists' fixation on Judaism. Once the Messiah arrives, many Christian Zionists are convinced that Jews will convert en masse to Christianity; in many versions, those who don't convert will perish."…
Trump BLINDSIDED by MOTHER OF ALL LAWSUITS from State AGs
Trump ignores the suffering of Americans during the shutdown, jetting off to Asia to try to clean up his economic messes while constructing a golden ballroom where the White House’s East Wing once stood. In contrast, 22 Democratic attorneys general have filed a new emergency lawsuit demanding that Trump pay $8 billion in November to help prevent 42 million American babies, children, elderly, and disabled from going hungry. California Attorney General Rob Bonta joins Michael Popok to brief the audience on the new suit, the judge assigned, and this week’s emergency hearing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6OsE6Je0SI
VA Makes It Harder for Male Veterans With Breast Cancer to Get Coverage — ProPublica
The law states that "reproductive cancer of any type" be covered. Officials added male breast cancer under that category after a working group of experts reviewed the science. The decision noted "the marked similarity of male and female breast cancer."
The Trump administration's memo argues that designation is a mistake. "The Biden Administration falsely classified male breasts as reproductive organs," Kasperowicz said in his statement to ProPublica.
A former official who was involved in the VA's decision last year said that while there were discussions about how to interpret "reproductive cancer," the scientific consensus among VA oncologists was clear. "The evidence showed that male and female breast tissue respond similarly to toxic exposures and share nearly identical biological and mutational profiles," said the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing concern for his job prospects in government. "Expanding coverage to male breast cancer was the right call."…
US will limit number of refugees to 7,500 and give priority to white South Africans | US immigration | The Guardian
Low number represents a dramatic drop after US previously allowed in hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and persecution…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/30/trump-refugee-restrictions-white-south-africans
Americans have a secret weapon against Trump | Vox
Obviously, asking anti-Trump consumers to boycott many different companies at once is unrealistic. Rather, any such campaign should target one specific and recognizable company at a time, ideally one that is relatively dependent on left-leaning consumers for revenue. Organizers should target them in retaliation for a very specific act of complicity or compliance, and rally liberal consumers to end purchases at this shop unless and until they reverse course...
https://www.vox.com/politics/466518/trump-business-boycott-democracy-resistance
6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1 - MacRumors
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below...
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/10/29/6-new-things-iphone-can-do-ios-26-1/
Thursday, October 30, 2025
History Minute: Christian churches promoted and legitimized the seizing of Indian lands. (013)
Van Every, in his phrase "Party managers and land speculators manipulated the growing excitement... Press and pulpit whipped up the frenzy," uses the word "pulpit" to refer to the moral and ideological authority exerted by religious leaders and institutions. The "pulpit" here signifies the church podium from which preachers delivered sermons that helped to escalate and legitimize the widespread enthusiasm and aggressive actions related to land and political ambitions.
Quoting Zinn:
The forces that led to removal did not come, Van Every insists, from the poor white frontiersmen who were neighbors of the Indians. They came from industrialization and commerce, the growth of populations, of railroads and cities, the rise in value of land, and the greed of businessmen. "Party managers and land speculators manipulated the growing excitement. . . . Press and pulpit whipped up the frenzy." Out of that frenzy the Indians were to end up dead or exiled, the land speculators richer, the politicians more powerful.
Quoting Perplexity.ai:
Van Every, in his phrase "Party managers and land speculators manipulated the growing excitement... Press and pulpit whipped up the frenzy," uses the word "pulpit" to refer to the moral and ideological authority exerted by religious leaders and institutions. The "pulpit" here signifies the church podium from which preachers delivered sermons that helped to escalate and legitimize the widespread enthusiasm and aggressive actions related to land and political ambitions.
The pulpit played a significant role in shaping public opinion and justifying actions through religious rhetoric. For example, as Van Every's context shows (drawing from Howard Zinn's work), the Puritans used biblical references from the pulpit, such as Psalms 2:8 ("Ask of me, and I shall give thee, the heathen for thine inheritance") and Romans 13:2 ("Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God"), to legitimize the seizure of Indian lands and suppress resistance. This religious justification from the pulpit helped fuel the frenzy for land acquisition and control by portraying it as divinely sanctioned.
Thus, Van Every's use of "pulpit" emphasizes how religious leaders and sermons contributed to stirring public excitement and justifying exploitative and violent actions by aligning them with divine will and moral righteousness. The pulpit was not neutral but actively engaged in promoting the ideological framework that supported land speculation and political manipulation.
Excerpt From
A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn
——-
Democrats demand list of donors to $300m Trump ballroom
Letter warns White House of 'blatant corruption' risk from contributing companies with business before government…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/29/trump-ballroom-donors-democrats
Pentagon orders states’ national guards to form ‘quick reaction forces’ for ‘crowd control’
Pentagon memo details plan to train over 20,000 national guard members across the US to carry out Trump's order on subduing civil unrest…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/29/pentagon-memo-quick-reaction-forces
AI Is Garbage and a Bubble (Please Learn This) • Richard Carrier Blogs
" There is no AI. What is being called artificial intelligence and sold as snake oil under that label is actually artificial stupidity. It will destroy your own personal ability to critically reason. It will destroy your company—by reducing, not increasing, productivity; and by increasing, not reducing, your risk-exposure to critical errors. And it will destroy the economy. Not by taking jobs. It will never replace any significant number of jobs, because it is garbage. It can't do even the simplest job. It fucks up more than a tween on weed. Rather, it will destroy the economy by wrecking pensions and banks and tanking the global economic system, resulting in massive layoffs and food lines, because any time now trillions of dollars of the global economy are literally going to evaporate—the moment people realize they are being conned and AI can never make money, or do any of the big things its grifters have desperately been claiming, and they even more desperately try to sell their position, and the whole stock market crashes..."
Portland coffee shop raises more than $184K for free breakfast for SNAP recipients - ABC News
Heretic Coffee Co. will offer SNAP recipients free food if benefits end Nov. 1.
Who Pays for Undocumented Migrants’ Healthcare? Reporter Explains | Amanpour
In Washington, D.C., the government shutdown is about to enter its fifth week. Negotiations remain at a standstill, the issue of healthcare funding for undocumented immigrants being one of the main sticking points between Democrats and Republicans. According to Washington Post reporter David Ovalle, it is a debate riddled with misleading claims.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNfZZ2uFF4k
South Korea gives golden crown to Trump, agrees to trade deal at APEC - The Washington Post
But beneath the pomp and glitz, other issues loom over the relationship, particularly on security issues. South Korean government officials are wary of Trump's desire for Seoul to pay more to host U.S. troops, and of the Trump administration's efforts to make security allies like South Korea take on more responsibility for defending themselves from security threats. That could put South Korea in a vulnerable position, given North Korea's advancements in its nuclear and missile program.
And while the initial shock over the immigration raid at the Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia has faded, some lawmakers and civic groups remain frustrated with the incident. A coalition of more than two dozen civic groups and political parties held anti-U. S. protests in Gyeongju, accusing Trump of exploiting the longtime security ally…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/10/29/trump-apec-south-korea/
3 words in Letitia James’ mortgage contract could doom the fraud case against her - POLITICO
James is charged with illegally collecting rental income on a second property. But her contract permits renting, according to POLITICO's review of her contract and legal experts...
CBS News staffers lose jobs in ‘bloodbath’ as part of sweeping cuts from Paramount | CBS | The Guardian
Paramount laying off about 1,000 staffers, including some in news, on Wednesday amid longer-term cost-cutting plan…
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/oct/29/cbs-news-layoffs-paramount
Food Allergy Rates Are Falling. That’s a Problem for RFK Jr.’s Aluminum Vaccine Theory. – Mother Jones
The new findings would seem to complicate a theory, long championed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., that food allergies are caused by small amounts of aluminum present in routine childhood vaccines. During a fireside chat-style discussion about the Make America Healthy Again movement at the National Governors Association's Colorado summit in July, Kennedy claimed that a group that he had helped found in the late 1990s, the Food Allergy Initiative, had once visited a lab at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, where a scientist had told him that a team of researchers had discovered that exposure to aluminum causes allergies...
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 104 overnight as ceasefire looks increasingly fragile
Netanyahu ordered strikes on Tuesday evening after firefight between Israeli troops and Palestinian militants…
All operational US liquefied natural gas terminals have violated pollution limits, says report
Analysis of public records comes as Trump administration aims to fast-track approval of new LNG export terminals…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/29/liquefied-natural-gas-terminal-pollution-limits
The AI bubble could pop the US and global economies
Is artificial intelligence a bubble that is about to burst? If so, what would be the consequences for the U.S. and global economy?
Trump-appointed acting US attorney disqualified from cases for ‘unlawfully serving’, rules judge | Law (US) | The Guardian
Bill Essayli removed from criminal cases after judge says he stayed in temporary job longer than allowed by law…
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2025/oct/28/trump-us-attorney-essayli-disqualified
Why the Fed is cutting rates even as prices keep rising
The Federal Reserve announced its second consecutive cut to its benchmark interest rate on Wednesday, reducing the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4%...
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/29/why-the-fed-is-cutting-rates-even-as-prices-keep-rising.html
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Another Big Reason to Worry About Bari Weiss’ Tenure at CBS News – Mother Jones
"In the two weeks that she has worked at the network, Ms. Weiss has not promoted any articles or reporting from CBS News on her X account, which reaches 1.1 million followers…As a Middle East peace deal came into view, Ms. Weiss shared numerous pro-Israel opinion pieces from The Free Press, and an editorial that said Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, had failed 'the Hamas test.'" She seemed more interested in opinion warfare than news reporting. And according to Status, Weiss has been considering hiring Fox News host Bret Baier and bringing back to CBS News Catherine Herridge, who was laid off from the network last year and whose past work included credulously reporting hyped-up Republican charges of Democratic misdeeds…
Who or what is left to protect reality? Who's going to vet the AI-orchestrated falsehoods to come? This is what we need the media for. Major news organizations will have to assume the task of quickly scrutinizing disinformation and misinformation, telling us whether the video of a tsunami heading toward the West Coast or another of thugs beating up a senator or one of explosions in downtown Chicago are legitimate. When a video appears of a political candidate confessing to a heinous crime or telling a racist joke, we will need to look to a source to determine whether that occurred. This should be the job of major news operations…
Threat to US vaccines as CDC staff supporting key advisory panel laid off
Critics say scientists 'held hostage' by RFK Jr as changes mean vaccine development and guidance in peril…
Elizabeth Warren urges US regulators to investigate Jes Staley ties to Epstein
Exclusive: Senator asks watchdogs to look at whether US bankers, including ex-Barclays boss, aided late sex offender…
US transportation secretary says he’ll revoke $160m from California over non-citizen truck licenses
Eva Spiegel, a spokesperson for the California department of motor vehicles, said the Trump administration "has no legitimate basis" to withhold federal highway transportation funds.
"The federal government previously allowed commercial driver's licenses for asylum seekers and refugees and on September 26 announced emergency regulations to cease this practice that went into effect on September 29. California is in compliance with these regulations and will remain in compliance with federal law," Spiegel said via email...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/27/california-non-citizen-licenses
US military kills 14 in attacks on vessels in the Pacific, according to Hegseth
US says one person survived latest strikes, having killed 51 people in attacks on at least 13 vessels in recent weeks…
Man deported to Laos despite US court order blocking his removal, attorneys say
District judge told Ice to keep Alabama man in US while he showed what judge called 'substantial claim' to citizenship…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/28/ice-deportation-alabama-laos
Elon Musk launches encyclopedia ‘fact-checked’ by AI and aligning with rightwing views | Elon Musk | The Guardian
Grokipedia's entries hew closely to conservative talking points, with some journalists already saying it contains inaccurate information…
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/oct/28/elon-musk-grokipedia
Rising heat kills one person a minute worldwide, major report reveals
Biggest analysis of its kind finds millions are dying each year because of failure to tackle climate crisis…
An ex-Intel CEO’s mission to build a Christian AI: ‘hasten the coming of Christ’s return’
Patrick Gelsinger, executive chairman of Gloo, has made it his mission to advance Christian principles in Silicon Valley…
US Senate passes Republican-led bill to rescind Trump’s tariffs on Brazil
"Tariffs make both building and buying in America more expensive. The economic harms of trade wars are not the exception to history, but the rule," Republican Mitch McConnell said in a statement on Tuesday. "And no cross-eyed reading of Reagan will reveal otherwise."
Paul, the sole Republican co-sponsor of the legislation, told reporters on Capitol Hill: "Emergencies are like war, famine, tornado. Not liking someone's tariffs is not an emergency, it's an abuse of the emergency power and it is Congress abdicating their traditional role in taxes."…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/28/us-senate-trump-tariffs-brazil
America’s super-rich are running down the planet’s safe climate spaces, says Oxfam
Exclusive: Data shows wealthiest 0.1% of the US burn carbon at 4,000 times the rate of the world's poorest 10%…
DC police officer says he was ordered to omit agent shooting at a driver in traffic stop report
Last week, Metropolitan police department (MPD) officer Jason Sterling testified in court that he had been instructed by a "team leader" not to disclose details of a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent firing three times at a man, Phillip Brown, in Washington DC during a traffic stop earlier this month, according to the man's lawyer, Quo Mieko S Judkins, Washington City Paper first reported…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/28/dc-police-officer-traffic-stop-report
Republican Indiana governor calls special session to redraw congressional maps
GOP-led state is latest that Trump administration has put pressure on to undertake redistricting to favor Republicans…
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/27/indiana-congressional-maps-redisctricting-governor
On Gaza truce, Trump makes clear U.S. and not Israel calls the shots - The Washington Post
Over the past 10 days, a parade of top U.S. officials have passed through Israel, in part to make sure that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu adheres to the terms of the ceasefire agreement as defined by its prime sponsor, President Donald Trump. The administration has also taken the exceptional step of deploying 200 U.S. troops to a coordination center in southern Israel, where they will help oversee the implementation of the deal and potentially constrain the Israeli military's operations in Gaza.
"The Americans aren't just involved. They're leading it. Israel is merely participating," said Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav, a former air and missile defense commander in the Israeli military. "Anywhere in the world where the Americans deploy a joint task force, they push everyone else aside and take command, control and leadership of the operational activity."…
Chinese Company Launches Wind-Powered Data Center at the Bottom of the Sea
This week, Chinese firm HiCloud broke the mold by launching the first phase of the 24 megawatt facility off the coast of Shanghai, claiming a world first. According to New Atlas, 95 percent of the data center's energy comes from offshore wind, while the facility itself is cooled by the cold ocean current…
https://futurism.com/science-energy/china-data-center-ocean-wind
Texas AG Paxton files Tylenol lawsuit, taking cues from Trump, Kennedy - The Washington Post
Texas becomes the first state to allege that taking the painkiller while pregnant can cause autism, despite unsettled scientific evidence...
LIVE: Newsom ANNOUNCES Major LAWSUIT Against Trump
He says there are $5 billion in reserves for this purpose, and it is only Trump's decision blocking its use.
Time to Wake Up 302: Bought and Paid For
How you are paying the high costs while polluters pollute for free: Whitehouse explains how Big Oil and fossil fuels are being given the right to pollute without cost or accountability by the very Trump administration agencies that are supposed to protect Americans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw2GeAuWyHs
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
History Minute: The Indian Experience (012)
"Dale Van Every, in his book The Disinherited, sums up what removal meant to the Indian:
In the long record of man's inhumanity exile has wrung moans of anguish from many different peoples. Upon no people could it ever have fallen with a more shattering impact than upon the eastern Indians. The Indian was peculiarly susceptible to every sensory attribute of every natural feature of his surroundings. He lived in the open. He knew every marsh, glade, hill top, rock, spring, creek, as only the hunter can know them. He had never fully grasped the principle establishing private ownership of land as any more rational than private ownership of air but he loved the land with a deeper emotion than could any proprietor. He felt himself as much a part of it as the rocks and trees, the animals and birds. His homeland was holy ground, sanctified for him as the resting place of the bones of his ancestors and the natural shrine of his religion. He conceived its waterfalls and ridges, its clouds and mists, its glens and meadows, to be inhabited by the myriad of spirits with whom he held daily communion. It was from this rain-washed land of forests, streams and lakes, to which he was held by the traditions of his forebears and his own spiritual aspirations, that he was to be driven to the arid, treeless plains of the far west, a desolate region then universally known as the Great American Desert."
Excerpt From
A People's History of the United States
Howard Zinn
Republican senator calls Trump’s military airstrikes ‘extrajudicial killings’
Rand Paul's comments come days after president claimed US lawmakers wouldn't take issue with Venezuelan strikes
Gavin Newsom confirms he is considering 2028 presidential run
Democratic California governor and high-profile Trump critic plans to make decision after 2026 midterms
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/26/gavin-newsom-2028-presidential-race
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
Click Older Posts above to see more.