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Trump, antidrug crusader, pardons convicted drug trafficker (because presidents always deserve pardons)

Trump, antidrug crusader, pardons convicted drug trafficker (because presidents always deserve pardons)

The New York Times reports: President Trump and his top aides have said that drug cartels present one of the most pressing dangers to the United States, and have promised to eradicate them from the Western Hemisphere. As part of that effort, Mr. Trump signaled on Saturday that he was ratcheting up his campaign against drug cartels, saying in a social media post that airspace above and surrounding Venezuela should be considered “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.” Less than 24 hours…

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New York’s political shift happened across the state from suburbs to rural areas

New York’s political shift happened across the state from suburbs to rural areas

Politico reports: Zohran Mamdani’s decisive win in New York City — along with key victories in New Jersey and Virginia — suggested Democrats are headed into the midterms from a position of strength. But they didn’t capture how deep that strength ran. Across suburbs, rural counties and small towns in New York, Democrats posted electoral gains that rival — and in many cases surpass — the party’s 2017 “Blue Wave.” In a state with enough competitive House races to decide…

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AI-powered surveillance firms are gunning for a share of the Gaza spoils

AI-powered surveillance firms are gunning for a share of the Gaza spoils

Sophia Goodfriend writes: Since mid-October, some 200 U.S. military personnel have been working out of a sprawling warehouse in southern Israel, around 20 kilometers from the northern tip of the Gaza Strip. The Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) was ostensibly set up to facilitate the implementation of President Donald Trump’s 20-point “peace plan” — whose stated aims are to “disarm Hamas,” “rebuild Gaza,” and lay the groundwork for “Palestinian self-determination and statehood” — which last week received the endorsement of the…

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Nature can bounce back if we just give it a chance

Nature can bounce back if we just give it a chance

Emma Marris writes: When the last of four dams on the Klamath River in southern Oregon and Northern California was demolished in October 2024, everyone who knew the river well had a question: How long would it take for salmon to reclaim the upper reaches they’d been cut off from for more than 100 years? About 10 months later, when they began their fall migration, Chinook salmon immediately took advantage of their new river access, looking for places upstream to…

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Europeans were dark skinned until just 3,000 years ago

Europeans were dark skinned until just 3,000 years ago

ZME Science reports: The textbook assumption is that when the first modern humans arrived in Europe, around 45,000 years ago, they quickly evolved pale skin to adapt to the region’s dimmer sunlight relative to Africa. The logic seemed straightforward: lighter skin allows more ultraviolet light to penetrate, helping the body produce vitamin D, a nutrient essential for human health. However, a study of ancient DNA challenges this long-held assumption. By analyzing the genomes of 348 individuals who lived between 45,000…

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Trump was warned that members of the military could be attacked

Trump was warned that members of the military could be attacked

Juliette Kayyem writes: Before an Afghan refugee, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, yesterday shot and seriously injured two National Guard members who had been deployed by President Donald Trump to Washington, D.C., military commanders had warned that their deployment represented an easy “target of opportunity” for grievance-based violence. The troops, deployed in an effort to reduce crime, are untrained in law enforcement; their days are spent cleaning up trash and walking the streets in uniform. Commanders, in a memo that was included in…

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Trump post hints at stopping nearly all legal immigration to the United States

Trump post hints at stopping nearly all legal immigration to the United States

Stuart Anderson writes: In a new social media post, Donald Trump hinted that he might stop nearly all legal immigration to the United States. The post came after an Afghan national killed a National Guard member in Washington, D.C. during an attack. In 2020, during Trump’s first term, the president suspended the entry of nearly all immigrants and temporary visa holders, citing the economic conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic. In a Truth Social post on Thanksgiving evening, Donald Trump…

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Routine interviews during permanent residency process end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

Routine interviews during permanent residency process end in handcuffs for spouses of U.S. citizens

The New York Times reports: The married couples filed into a federal building in San Diego last week for green card interviews that they believed would secure their future together in the United States. Half of each pair was American. Stephen Paul came with his British wife and their 4-month-old baby. Audrey Hestmark arrived with her German husband, days before their first wedding anniversary. Jason Cordero accompanied his Mexican wife. It was supposed to be a celebratory milestone, the final…

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More than 220 judges have now rejected the Trump admin’s mass detention policy

More than 220 judges have now rejected the Trump admin’s mass detention policy

Politico reports: The Trump administration’s bid to systematically lock up nearly all immigrants facing deportation proceedings has led to a fierce — and mounting — rejection by courts across the country. That effort, which began with an abrupt policy change by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 8, has led to a tidal wave of emergency lawsuits after ICE’s targets were arrested at workplaces, courthouses or check-ins with immigration officers. Many have lived in the U.S. for years, and sometimes…

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Survivors on ‘narco boat’ targeted by Trump order were blown apart after Hegseth verbal command to ‘kill everybody’

Survivors on ‘narco boat’ targeted by Trump order were blown apart after Hegseth verbal command to ‘kill everybody’

The Independent reports: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly gave a verbal order to leave no survivors behind as Donald Trump’s administration launched the first of more than a dozen attacks on alleged drug-running boats that have killed more than 80 people over the last three months. On September 2, U.S. military personnel fired a missile striking a vessel in the Caribbean that carried 11 people accused of trafficking drugs into the United States. When two survivors emerged from the wreckage,…

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Trump’s approval rating drops to 36%, a new second-term low

Trump’s approval rating drops to 36%, a new second-term low

Gallup: President Donald Trump’s job approval rating has fallen five percentage points to 36%, the lowest of his second term, while disapproval has risen to 60%. The latest decline follows three months of stability, with 40% to 41% of Americans expressing approval of his handling of the presidency. His prior second-term low point in approval was a statistically similar 37% in July, and his all-time low was 34% in 2021, at the end of his first term after the Jan….

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Decades-long droughts doomed one of the world’s oldest civilizations

Decades-long droughts doomed one of the world’s oldest civilizations

Live Science reports: A series of severe, decades-long droughts ushered the end of the Indus Valley Civilization, one of the world’s oldest civilizations, a new study finds. This Indus Valley Civilization (also known as the “Harappan” civilization) flourished between 5,000 and 3,500 years ago in a region that stretched across the modern-day India-Pakistan border. Its people created cities, such as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, which had sophisticated water-management systems. They also created a written script, which remains undeciphered by modern…

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Rubio, son of immigrants, pushes anti-immigrant policies globally in name of ‘defending national sovereignty’

Rubio, son of immigrants, pushes anti-immigrant policies globally in name of ‘defending national sovereignty’

The New York Times reports: Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered American diplomats in Europe and in Canada, Australia and New Zealand to press their host governments to restrict most immigration and to file reports if the governments appear to be overly supportive of immigrants, according to a document sent to U.S. embassies and consulates. Mr. Rubio told the diplomats to emphasize the effects of criminal acts by immigrants to encourage greater entry restrictions, according to the document, which…

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DC shooter, granted asylum under Trump, was in ‘death squad’ run by CIA in Afghanistan

DC shooter, granted asylum under Trump, was in ‘death squad’ run by CIA in Afghanistan

The New York Times reports: The Afghan refugee accused of shooting two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., fought in the late days of the U.S. war there as part of a “Zero Unit,” a paramilitary force that worked with the C.I.A., according to a person briefed on the investigation and an Afghan intelligence officer familiar with the matter. The units were known for their brutality and labeled “death squads” by human rights groups. The suspect, identified by federal officials…

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