update - Fed'l judge blocks Trump attack on Planned Parenthood

[mandrill]

SEATTLE (AP) — In what appears to be the first major challenge to the new $100,000 fee required for H-1B visa applications, a coalition of health care providers, religious groups, university professors and others filed a federal lawsuit Friday to stop the plan, saying it has “thrown employers, workers and federal agencies into chaos.”

President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Sept. 19 requiring the new fee, saying the H-1B visa program “has been deliberately exploited to replace, rather than supplement, American workers with lower-paid, lower-skilled labor.” The changes were slated to go into effect in 36 hours, which caused panic for employers, who instructed their workers to return to the U.S. immediately.



President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)© The Associated Press
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, said the H-1B program is a critical pathway to hiring healthcare workers and educators. It drives innovation and economic growth in the U.S., and allows employers to fill jobs in specialized fields, the lawsuit said.

“Without relief, hospitals will lose medical staff, churches will lose pastors, classrooms will lose teachers, and industries across the country risk losing key innovators,” Democracy Forward Foundation and Justice Action Center said in a press release. “The suit asks the court to immediately block the order and restore predictability for employers and workers.”

They called the new fee “Trump's latest anti-immigration power grab.”

Messages seeking comment from the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which are named as defendants along with Trump and the State Department, were not immediately returned.

The H-1B visa program was created by Congress to attract high-skilled workers to fill jobs that tech companies find difficult to fill. About a third of H-1B workers are nurses, teachers, physicians, scholars, priests and pastors, according to the lawsuit.

Critics say the program is a pipeline for overseas workers who are often willing to work for as little as $60,000 annually, well below the $100,000-plus salaries typically paid to U.S. technology workers.

Historically, H-1B visas have been doled out through a lottery. This year, Seattle-based Amazon was by far the top recipient of H-1B visas with more than 10,000 awarded, followed by Tata Consultancy, Microsoft, Apple and Google. Geographically, California has the highest number of H-1B workers.

The $100,000 fee will discourage the best and brightest minds from bringing life-saving research to the U.S., said Todd Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors.

Mike Miller, Region 6 Director of the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, said Trump's plan “prioritizes wealth and connections over scientific acumen and diligence."


Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, contends the “exorbitant fee” invites corruption and is illegal. Congress created the program and Trump can't rewrite it overnight or levy new taxes by executive order, the groups said.

Martha Bellisle, The Associated Press

Lawsuit seeks to stop Trump's $100,000 fee for H-1B visas

 

[mandrill]

A federal judge in Puerto Rico has issued an order blocking President Donald Trump from firing members of the island's Financial Oversight and Management Board.

That board, created in 2016 under the PROMESA bill, exists to “make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States,” while restructuring Puerto Rico's territorial debt “to achieve fiscal responsibility and access to the capital markets.” Seven people serve on the board, appointed by the president, and it is one of a number of agencies where members are legally protected from being removed without good cause.

Also Read: UNC reinstates prof who had been suspended amid Charlie Kirk furor

The Trump administration tried to put forward multiple arguments for why it had not violated the good-cause requirements of PROMESA, including the fact that Trump's Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel sent the fired boardmembers a letter after the lawsuit was filed accusing them of “inefficiency, ineffectiveness, neglect, and failure to advance the statutory mission of the Oversight Board.”

But U.S. District Judge Maria Antongiorgi-Jordan was not convinced.

Want more breaking political news? Click for the latest headlines at Raw Story.

"The Supreme Court has indicated that where Congress provides that a federal officer may be removed only for cause, 'the officer is entitled to notice and a hearing,'" she wrote. "This is because where a statute provides that an official may be removed only 'for cause,' that suggests that Congress intended to place the decision to remove that official beyond the unlimited discretion of one actor."

It's the latest in a long series of legal disputes as Trump tries to remove officials from various independent boards that are supposed to be insulated from politics. One high-stakes battle concerns Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, whom Trump tried to fire based on unproven and disputed allegations that she committed mortgage fraud. The Supreme Court, which has in many cases intervened to overrule lower courts and let Trump at least temporarily fire independent agency officials, kept Cook in place for the time being.

Trump's move to fire members of key financial oversight board blocked by judge

 

[mandrill]

One recently fired veteran federal prosecutor issued a direct warning to his colleagues about President Donald Trump before leaving his office.

Politico reported Friday that Michael Ben'Ary — who was one of the top national security prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) — issued his parting shot at the Trump administration in a letter taped to his office door. Ben'Ary lamented that the Trump Department of Justice was "more concerned with punishing the President’s perceived enemies than they are with protecting our national security."

"Justice for Americans killed and injured by our enemies should not be contingent on what someone in the Department of Justice sees in their social media feed that day," he wrote.

Ben'Ary's firing came despite him being the lead prosecutor in the case of Mohammad Sharifullah, who has been charged with planning the bombing attack that killed 13 U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2021. Sharifullah's trial date had been set for early December, though Ben'Ary's firing may delay it further.

Michael Ben'Ary was also notably targeted by conservative writer Julie Kelly, who pointed out that he was part of a "resistance" in EDVA against prosecuting former FBI Director James Comey. He was also singled out for his previous work with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco (who Trump has attacked on numerous occasions).

The two-page Comey indictment was notably not signed by any other career DOJ prosecutors within EDVA, and interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan had no help within the office in trying to persuade a grand jury to charge Comey with two felonies (the grand jury refused to indict on a third count). Conservative attorney George Conway argued earlier this week that because Halligan is only an interim attorney who hasn't been previously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, her indictment of Comey is "invalid."

The Trump DOJ fired Ben'Ary not long after firing Maya Song, who was EDVA's top deputy and another former aide to Monaco. According to Politico, EDVA is "one of the most prominent hubs for national security cases in the country," and the firings of Song and Ben'Ary have left the office in a state of "turmoil."

Fired DOJ prosecutor calls Trump a threat to 'national security' in note taped to his door

 

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[mandrill]

President Donald Trump has continued to troll senior Democrats on social media as the U.S. federal government remains mired in shutdown, with no breakthrough in sight on Capitol Hill.

The president was busy online on Thursday night, posting a meme of a glum-looking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer under a headline calling the opposition “the party of hate, evil, and Satan.”

There was also a Superman clip and an AI-edited video of the commander-in-chief picking up a red “Trump 2028” baseball cap and tossing it directly onto the head of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

That came after Jeffries complained about the merchandise’s presence in the Oval Office when the leadership met with Trump on Monday to discuss a new funding deal, which ultimately proved fruitless.

The president went on to post a clip of a right-wing comedian dressed in a multi-colored poncho and sombrero impersonating him and lashing out out at “Cryin’ Chuck” and “El Hakimo ‘Jefe’ Jeffries” over the shutdown, in which the speaker jokes that the latter is a “Dollar Store Obama.”

Trump posted another AI clip of himself as the Grim Reaper – set to Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” – in which he glories in the prospect of Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought slashing the federal workforce.

ariachi jibes at Jeffries began last week when Trump posted a modified video of him with a curly moustache and traditional Mexican attire as the deadline for shutdown talks neared, which also featured a fake Schumer declaring: “Nobody likes Democrats anymore, we have no voters left because of all of our woke trans bull****.”

Jeffries responded by saying angrily at a press conference: “Mr President, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face.”

Undeterred, Trump quickly responded with a followup in which he appears himself as a complete quartet to drown out the New Yorker with blasting trumpets.

The original fake AI video posted by Trump mocking Democratic congressional leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer (Donald Trump/Truth Social)
A portrait of Jeffries in the same costume can also be spotted lining the walls of the Capitol alongside those of his fellow Democrats in the Reaper video.

The official White House X account likewise joined in the taunting, posting a child’s drawing of a sombrero with the caption, “Our social media manager was furloughed, but... Almost Friday,” followed by a maracas emoji.

Once known only for sober pronouncements on matters of national importance, the account has drawn criticism under Trump for posting tongue-in-cheek memes.

One cast the president as the Man of Steel and in another he is seen striking a heroic pose and proclaiming ominously: “I was the hunted – now I’m the hunter.”

The White House joins in with Trump's mockery of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries by posting a sombrero meme on its offical X account on Friday October 3 2025 (The White House/X)
Responding to the onslaught of abuse on his own X account, Jeffries said on Friday: “Trump continues to hide behind deepfake videos. Meanwhile, Democrats are fighting to protect your healthcare.”

The shutdown came to pass at midnight on Tuesday, despite the Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, because the GOP could not secure the support of the seven Democrats it needed in the Senate to pass a House resolution that would have secured fresh funding for government agencies.


Democrats refused to support a stopgap spending bill without an extension of Covid-era healthcare premium subsidies for Obamacare being included. Without it, they argued, premiums for more than 20 million American citizens could more than double each month from $888 to $1,904 once the subsidies expire on December 31.

For his part, Trump has not publicly offered any concessions to Democrats, preferring to insist instead that they must simply abandon their concerns and fall in line with his demands.


Trump and White House ramp up racist memes blaming Democrats for shutdown: ‘Dollar Store Obama’

 

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Texas school district bans Holocaust novel ‘The Devil’s Arithmetic’


A school district in central Texas has removed “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” a classic young-adult novel dealing with the Holocaust, after reviewing books for material that could violate a new state law forbidding “DEI” classroom content.

The novel was one of dozens to be removed after Leander Independent School District, in a suburb of Austin, undertook its review in part by using artificial intelligence.

Leander ISD is far from the first district to remove books on Jewish subjects amid a dragnet targeting diversity- or LGBTQ-related themes.


Over the last few years, districts in Texas, Florida and beyond have pulled versions of Anne Frank’s diary; “Maus”; “The Fixer”; and other Jewish books. Recently another Texas school district, covering the Houston suburb of Rosenberg, placed hundreds of books “under review” for potential violation of a different state law, including both “Maus” books and “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation.”

Now, the Trump administration has joined Republican lawmakers in multiple states in calling for schools to be purged of diversity-related content.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announces a new public safety initiative to combat violent crime in Greater Houston during a press conference in Houston, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (credit: Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
“I think removing books like ‘The Devil’s Arithmetic’ is a huge mistake, but it’s understandable why a district administrator would do it in the current climate of fear and intimidation,” Frank Strong, a teacher in Austin who also co-directs the advocacy group Texas Freedom to Read Project, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

Many of the past cases have resulted from formal parent challenges, which Republican lawmakers have empowered in some places. But the use of AI in the Leander case signals a new frontier: one where automated technology, increasingly used in school districts’ book ban decisions, could cause Jewish stories to be sidelined as part of a broad conservative resistance to stories that center characters’ marginalized identities.

Strong told JTA that he suspects “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” along with other books generally considered classroom staples like “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The House on Mango Street,” were “flagged because questions of identity are central to its story. Which really highlights the absurdity of Senate Bill 12.”

Senate Bill 12 is about 'parental rights in public education'
Senate Bill 12, signed into Texas law by Gov. Greg Abbott in September, is framed around “parental rights in public education.” The law places classroom restrictions on “instruction, diversity, equity and inclusion duties, and social transitioning.” Among the law’s provisions: Districts “may not assign diversity, equity, and inclusion duties to any person,” and are banned from “assistance with social transitioning.”


A growing number of districts in the state have shut down LGBTQ clubs as a result of the law. Others, like Leander, are removing classroom materials like books in response to it.

According to a local news station, AI “was used in the initial part of the process” of the Leander ISD review of hundreds of books. District administrators then made manual reviews before finalizing which books to pull.

An email that district leaders sent to educators ordering the “pause” of the books, published by Strong on his blog, states that the materials “are not being permanently removed,” but “are simply on hold while we seek additional guidance.” The removals, the district leader wrote, are “necessary to ensure our curriculum remains in full compliance with the law.”

The list of around 40 books determined by Leander ISD to potentially be in violation of the law includes “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Les Misérables,” and books by Frederick Douglass, James Baldwin and S.E. Hinton.


It also includes “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” the 1988 novel by Jewish author Jane Yolen about a young Jewish American girl who travels back in time to World War II-era Poland during Passover and is sent to a death camp. The book has received wide acclaim and become a classroom mainstay for teaching middle-grade readers about the Holocaust; it was adapted into a TV movie starring Kirsten Dunst. The book has not been formally challenged by any district parent, according to Strong.

Initially placed on the district’s list of approved class books for eighth-graders, the novel was flagged, in the district’s words, to be “paused for review SB 12," the only eighth-grade book to be flagged as such. It was also pulled from a list of approved books for the school’s eighth-grade book club, “The Past, Today: Historical Fiction,” again with district leaders citing SB 12. A representative for the district did not return a JTA request for comment.


Rubric used to determine books' appropriateness
A rubric used by the district to measure the books’ appropriateness, viewed by JTA, has a long list of qualities found in books with a “high likelyhood [sic]” of violating the law.

An offending book, the rubric states, “explicitly frames representation as a lesson or guiding principle”; “suggests policy change or advocacy”; frames the issue of representation “as inequity requiring remedies or advocacy”; “historically misrepresents or representative of a singular point of view of historical or present political conflicts”; contains “frequent sensitive themes that has a high likelyhood [sic] of being viewed as inappropriate for grade”; or is “used in ways that elevate sensitive themes to instructional focus.”

The same rubric takes exceptional issue with books about gender, saying books where a “student or character explicitly asks to be called by pronouns/names linked to gender transition” or where a “pronoun/name change [is] central to narrative” should be pulled.


In “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” the protagonist is referred to by a different name — though the same gender — after she travels back in time to assume the identity of a relative who died in the Holocaust.

Leander has made headlines for book removals in the past. In 2021 the district was among the first in the nation to remove books at the behest of conservative parent activists. A “curriculum advisory committee” at the time ultimately voted to remove 11 books, none of which was “The Devil’s Arithmetic.”

Texas is one of many states with a statewide Holocaust education mandate. In 2021, a district leader in the Dallas area told his teachers that a different state law would require them to teach “opposing” views of the Holocaust.

What will really hurt teachers in the district, Strong said, is the need to quickly rework any lesson plans they may have devised around “The Devil’s Arithmetic,” even if the removal winds up being temporary.

“Teachers choose books like ‘The Devil’s Arithmetic’ because students need books like ‘The Devil’s Arithmetic,’” Strong said.

 

[mandrill]

The Trump administration is looking to deploy federal troops to Oregon’s largest city while withholding federal funds and launching an investigation into its police department because a pro-Trump influencer was arrested after allegedly getting into a fight there late Thursday.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday said President Donald Trump was ordering Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to “to provide all necessary troops to protect war-ravaged Portland,” citing anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests at facilities which she described as being “under siege from attack by Antifa and other left-wing domestic terrorists.”

White House comments on arrest of conservative journalist in Portland
Leavitt also decried what she called a “extremely troubling incident” in which live-streamer Nick Sortor, a self-styled “independent journalist” who often travels to the sites of protests and disasters to make content attacking Democrats and promoting Trump and other GOP figures, was captured on video being placed under arrest late Thursday evening.

She claimed that the influencer had been “ambushed by Antifa thugs” and criticized the Portland Police Bureau for having “arrested a journalist who was there trying to document the chaos” there.

A review of Sortor’s X profile by The Independent shows had been in Portland filming and posting videos of the protests since earlier in the week.

According to a Portland Police Bureau press release, he allegedly began fighting with two people near the ICE building’s driveway.

All three were arrested, charged with second-degree disorderly conduct and later released.

Sortor, who did not immediately respond to a text message from The Independent requesting comment, has amassed a following of over one million followers on X, posted there after his release, claiming that the Portland police department was “going to absolutely HATE what’s coming.”

Within hours, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon took to her own official X account to say she’d spoken with both Sortor and Attorney General Pam Bondi about the case.

She also said that an investigation into the influencer’s arrest was a “high priority” for the department’s Civil Rights Division, which since Trump’s inauguration has moved away from its longstanding mission of protecting racial and ethnic minorities from discrimination in favor of investigating discrimination against Christians and white Americans.

Leavitt told reporters that the Justice Department would be “launching a full investigation” into Sortor’s arrest and said Trump has directed administration officials to review what federal funds to Portland can be cut as a result.

“We will not fund states that allow anarchy,” she said, adding later that there would be “an additional surge of federal resources to Portland immediately” including more Customs and Border Protection and ICE officers.

Trump, Leavitt said, is “genuinely serious about wanting to restore order in America's cities” and claimed it had “become apparent that the local and elected officials in Oregon do not feel the same.”


“That's very unfortunate for the people who live there,” she added.


Trump threatens Portland with funding cuts and a DOJ investigation after police arrest a MAGA influencer

 

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Five years after protests roiled Portland, Oregon, the city known for its history of civil disobedience is again at the center of a political maelstrom as it braces for the arrival of federal troops being deployed by President Donald Trump.

Months of demonstrations outside Portland's immigration detention facility have escalated after conservative influencer Nick Sortor was arrested late Thursday on a disorderly conduct charge by Portland Police.

On Friday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the agency would send additional federal agents and the Justice Department was launching a civil rights investigation into the circumstances surrounding Sortor’s arrest, and whether Portland Police engage in viewpoint discrimination.

Meanwhile, a federal judge heard arguments Friday — but did not immediately rule — on whether to temporarily block Trump's call-up of 200 Oregon National Guard members to protect the ICE facility and other federal buildings.

The escalation of federal law enforcement in Portland, population 636,000 and Oregon's largest city, follows similar crackdowns to combat crime in other cities, including Chicago, Baltimore and Memphis. He deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C.

APTOPIX Federal Crackdown Oregon© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
A conservative influencer arrested in Portland

Sortor, 27, who's a regular guest on Fox News and whose X profile has more than 1 million followers, was arrested Thursday night with two other people outside the city's Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.

What exactly led up to the arrests was not immediately clear. Portland police said in a news release that officers observed two men fighting and one of the men was knocked to the ground. Neither of the men wanted to file a police report. Police moved in about three hours later, as fights continued to break out, and arrested Sorter and two others.

All three were charged with second-degree disorderly conduct. Sorter was released Friday on his own recognizance, according to Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office’s online records. An email seeking comment from Sortor sent Friday went unanswered and no one answered phone numbers listed for him.

In a post on X on Friday morning, Sortor said his arrest proved that Portland Police are corrupt and controlled by “vioIent Antifa thugs who terrorize the streets.”

“You thought arresting me would make me shut up and go away,” he wrote.

Sortor also said that Attorney General Pam Bondi had ordered an investigation into the circumstances of his arrest and of the Portland Police Bureau.

A history of Portland protests led to this moment

Portland famously erupted in more than 100 days of sustained, nightly protests in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement. In his first term, Trump sent federal law enforcement to the city to protect the U.S. District Courthouse in the heart of Portland after protests attracted thousands of people following George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police.

The presence of the federal agents further inflamed the situation, with federal officers repeatedly firing rubber bullets and teargassing protestors. Viral videos captured militarized federal officers, often unidentified, arresting people and hustling them into unmarked vehicles.


At the same time, Portland police were unable to keep ahead of splinter groups of black-clad protesters who broke off and roamed the downtown area, at times breaking windows, spraying graffiti and setting small fires in moments that were also captured on video and shared widely on social media.

A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that while the federal government had legal authority to deploy the officers, many of them lacked the training and equipment needed to carry out the mission.

The tensions reached a peak in September 2020 when a self-identified member of the far-left anti-fascist movement fatally shot 39-year-old Aaron “Jay” Danielson in the chest. Danielson and a friend were seen heading downtown to protect a flag-waving caravan of Trump supporters shortly before the shooting.

The shooter, Michael Forest Reinoehl, was himself later shot and killed when he pulled a gun as a federal task force attempted to apprehend him near Lacey, Washington.


A different context for today's protests

The situation in Portland is very different now.

There's been a sustained and low-level protest outside the Portland ICE facility — far from the downtown clashes of 2020 — since Trump took office in January. Those protests flared in June, during the national protests surrounding Trump's military parade, but have rarely attracted more than a few dozen people in the past two months.

Trump has once more turned his attention to the city, calling Portland “war ravaged,” and a “war zone” that is “burning down” and like “living in hell.” But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020. Under a new mayor, the city has reduced crime, and the downtown has seen a decrease in homeless encampments and increased foot traffic.

Most violent crime around the country has actually declined in recent years, including in Portland, where a recent report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association found that homicides from January through June decreased by 51% this year compared to the same period in 2024.


City leaders have urged restraint and told residents not to “take the bait” this week after the announcement that the National Guard would be sent to Portland.

Oregon seeks to block National Guard deployment by Trump

On Friday, U.S. District Court Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments on whether to block the deployment of National Guard troops in Portland, where they would defend federal buildings such as the ICE facility from vandalism.

Oregon sued to stop the deployment on Sept. 28 after Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek failed to convince Trump to call off the deployment in a 10-minute phone call on Sept. 27.

Immergut did not immediately issue a ruling Friday after a short hearing and said she would issue an order later that day or over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the National Guard troops — from communities not too far from Portland — were training on the Oregon Coast in anticipation of deployment.


Thursday's arrest of Sortor, however, likely means more federal law enforcement presence in Portland.

In an X post, which reposted a video from the protest and a photo of Sortor being detained, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said there would be an immediate increase in federal resources to the city with enhanced Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement resources.

“This violence will end under @POTUS Trump,” McLaughlin wrote.

Portland braces for federal troops as protests escalate and conservative influencer is arrested

 

[mandrill]

Some political scientists, seeing how bitterly divided the United States is politically, fear that the country is entering a period of prologued political violence comparable to The Troubles in North Ireland.

"Real Time" host Bill Maher examined those tensions with two guests — conservative-leaning New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman and liberal Van Jones — during his Friday night, October 3 broadcast. And Friedman argued that tech companies are making a fortune tearing the U.S. apart.

When Maher noted recent polls saying that most Americans believe the country's "severe divisions" cannot be repaired, Friedman laid out "what's new about this moment" compared to the United States' political conflicts of the past.

Friedman told Maher and Jones, "We aren't divided; we are being divided by companies for profit. And we have our divisions; we always have. But what is new in my life: it is now a giant industry to make people stupid and angry

Maher asked Friedman if he was "talking about algorithms," and the Times columnist responded, "Exactly. Facebook and all the things that these people do."

Friedman explained, "We're going through a lot of social change. We're going through a lot of technological change. The pot would be boiling. But then, along came (Facebook CEO) Mark Zuckerberg and turned the heat up on the pot. And then, along came Trump and took the lid off the pot, and he made it permissible, popular and profitable to say and do things about each other we never did before."

Jones interjected that when Americans are online, algorithms are quick to identify them as liberal or conservative and give them "different information" every day.

Jones told Maher and Friedman, "And so now, you literally think your neighbor is insane, because how could they possible think this stuff? But if you put your phone next to their phone, you're in different algorithmic universes. And that is brand new and very dangerous."

Maher panel explains how tech bros get rich making 'divided' Americans 'stupid and angry'

 

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Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump’s foreign‑policy approach and his handling of the United States’ relationships with key allies have raised eyebrows. In recent months, his administration has stepped up its military campaign against drug cartels in Venezuela — a move that has drawn criticism domestically.

In an article for the Guardian published Sunday, foreign policy commentator Simon Tisdall argued that his threats to attack Venezuela and "dangerous and self defeating."

He added that this policy would benefit China instead of the U.S.

"Trump’s efforts to reprise the role of Latin American neighbourhood policeman, emulating former president Theodore Roosevelt – a big stick-wielding serial interventionist – are regressive, dangerous and self-defeating. Long-term, the big winner will most likely be Beijing, an increasingly influential regional actor, investor and leading member of the Brics group of nations. As the US burns its bridges across the world, Trump is making China great again," Tisdall wrote.

The writer argued that, despite his tough rhetoric, the president doesn't know what he is doing.

"Yet given his hapless blundering on other key foreign issues, the most likely explanation for Trump’s behaviour is that, typically, he hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing – in Venezuela or Latin America as whole. There’s no plan. He throws his weight about, makes impetuous misjudgments, stokes fear of foreigners and bases policy on whether he 'likes' other leaders. In 2019, with Maduro on the ropes, Trump blinked. Today, full-scale military intervention in Venezuela remains unlikely. More probable is an intensified pressure campaign of destabilisation, sanctions, maritime strikes, and air and commando raids," he wrote.

Tisdall further argued that Trump's decision to try and intervene in Brazil's politics backfired.

"Trump’s attempt to use punitive tariffs and sanctions to strong-arm Brazil into pardoning its disgraced former hard-right president Jair Bolsonaro backfired spectacularly last month. Huge crowds took to the streets of Brazilian cities to defend what they rightly saw as an assault on Brazilian sovereignty and rule of law."

He continued: "The popularity of Bolsonaro’s successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, soared. 'We are not, and never again will we be, anyone’s colony,' he declared. Lula told Trump, in effect, to get lost. Then, when they met at the UN general assembly, Trump backed off and played nice. Keir Starmer, please note.'"


'Self-defeating': Expert says Trump 'hasn't got a clue what he's doing' in Venezuela

 

[mandrill]

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth considered deploying an elite Army unit to Portland, Oregon, to address what President Donald Trump called “lawless mayhem,” according to text messages shared with the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Last weekend, in a crowded public setting, high-ranking Trump administration officials reportedly exchanged messages about potentially deploying the Army’s 82nd Airborne, a division historically sent into combat in both World Wars, Vietnam, and Afghanistan.

Any move to send the unit domestically would likely face legal challenges under federal restrictions on the use of military forces within the United States.

Ultimately, the administration opted to deploy 200 federalized National Guard troops to Portland rather than active-duty Army forces. The state of Oregon and the city of Portland have filed suit in federal court seeking to block that deployment.

While traveling in Minnesota, Anthony Salisbury, deputy to White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, reportedly used the private messaging app Signal to send the texts, which were visible to people nearby.

Concerned by the public discussion of sensitive military plans, a source, fearing retaliation, anonymously provided the Star Tribune with images of the texts. The newspaper confirmed Salisbury as the sender using photos, video, and facial recognition, while verifying the authenticity of the messages, it reports.

Over dozens of messages, Salisbury spoke candidly, sometimes profanely, with Hegseth’s adviser, Patrick Weaver, and other officials, claiming that Hegseth wanted Trump’s explicit approval before sending troops into the city.

“Between you and I, I think Pete just wants the top cover from the boss if anything goes sideways with the troops there,” Weaver allegedly wrote.



Soldiers from the Army 82nd Airborne Division, dressed in World War I era uniforms, march past the reviewing stand and President Donald Trump during a military parade commemorating the Army's 250th anniversary, coinciding with his 79th birthday, in June (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
He recognized the political risks of sending Army troops to a U.S. city, adding that Hegseth preferred deploying the National Guard instead.

“82nd is like our top tier [quick reaction force] for abroad. So it will cause a lot of headlines,” Weaver added. “Probably why he wants potus to tell him to do it.”

When approached for comment, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended Salisbury, noting he was in Minnesota to serve as a pallbearer at his uncle’s funeral.

“Despite dealing with grief from the loss of a family member, Tony continued his important work on behalf of the American people ... Frankly, this story just shows the entire Trump Administration is working around the clock – and even through funerals – to make America safe again.”

The statement was also critical of the reporting around the leak, claiming reporting outlets are “choosing to exploit a private moment of grief for clicks.”



The Trump administration deployed 200 National Guard troops to Portland this week as Oregon sought a court block (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)© (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told The Independent in a statement, “The Star Tribune has acted in bad faith by repeatedly refusing to provide photos or a transcript of the messages in order to create their own narrative. This is not new information and only proves that the entire Trump Administration is working around the clock to Make America Safe Again.”


“The Department of War is a planning organization and does not speculate on potential future operations. The Department is continuously working with other agency partners to protect federal assets and personnel and to keep American communities safe,” Parnell added.


Trump admin discussed sending the battle-ready 82nd Airborne Division into Portland, leaked texts reveal

 

[somjay]

Doesn’t Portland have more strip clubs than any other city in the world? So what’s Trump’s problem?

 

[mandrill]

The number of farm operations filing for bankruptcy remains at historically low levels but has jumped sharply this year as a crisis in the agricultural economy drags on.

In the second quarter, there were 93 filings, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, up from 88 in the first quarter and nearly double the 47 at the end of 2024.

That’s still well below the recent high of 169 in early 2020, and filings nosedived in the two years that followed. But since 2022, farm bankruptcies have been trending higher.

That coincides with higher production costs and plunging crop prices. For instance, corn prices have crashed about 50% since 2022, while soybean prices are down about 40%.

More recently, President Donald Trump’s trade war this year has kept China, traditionally a top buyer of U.S. soybeans, from placing any orders with American farmers, who are facing an uncertain harvest season.

Farm bankruptcies are soaring amid low crop prices, while Trump considers bailout of up to $14 billion
But crop prices have been weak for most of the past decade except for brief a spike during the pandemic, according to the Minneapolis Fed.

And while the Agriculture Department has forecast that farm incomes will increase this year, about three-quarters of that growth will come from an expected boost in government payments, it added.

The Federal Reserve’s recent survey of farm financial conditions found that weaker income has reduced liquidity for farmers, boosting demand for financing.

At the same time, credit conditions deteriorated with roughly 30% of respondents in the Chicago Fed and Kansas City Fed districts reporting lower repayment rates versus a year ago, while the Minneapolis Fed region’s share was around 40% and the St. Louis Fed’s was 50%.

To be sure, the recent spike in bankruptcies doesn’t mean farmers are going out of business, the Minneapolis Fed pointed out. A Chapter 12 filing can help them avoid total liquidation and allow them to continue operating, perhaps on a smaller scale after some restructuring.

Still, agriculture trade groups have been calling on the Trump administration for help in boosting demand for U.S. crops as they sound the alarm on a crisis in the farm economy.

That includes reaching a trade deal with China to start buying U.S. soybeans again and requiring fuel with higher blends of ethanol, which can be made from corn.

“Soybean farmers are under extreme financial stress,” the American Soybean Association said in a letter to Trump in August. “Prices continue to drop and at the same time our farmers are paying significantly more for inputs and equipment. U.S. soybean farmers cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute with our largest customer.”

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was signed in July included about $66 billion in agriculture-focused spending. The vast majority, about $59 billion, is earmarked for farm safety-net enhancements.

But Trump has also suggested tariff revenue could be used to help farmers, and sources told the Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the administration is considering a bailout of $10 billion-$14 billion with distributions potentially starting in the coming months. During Trump’s first term, farmers got $23 billion amid an earlier trade war with China.


But American Soybean Association CEO Stephen Censky told Farm Journal’s AgWeb last month that government assistance gets “capitalized” over the longer term, meaning payments offer limited overall relief for farmers who subsequently see rents and other costs go up too.

“It’s tough, and I can hear it in the stress in our members’ voices. Our members and our board of directors are really concerned right now,” Censky, who served as deputy agriculture secretary in Trump’s first term, said. “Some say if things don’t turn around, if we don’t get markets back or if we get economic assistance — which is not our first choice — this could be their last year in farming. That’s pretty scary.”

Farm bankruptcies are soaring amid low crop prices, while Trump considers bailout of up to $14 billion

 

[mandrill]

 

[mandrill]