Browsed by
Author: From elsewhere

ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say

ICE officer in Maine shooting has history of violent behavior, family and records say

The Associated Press reports: The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who shot a Colombian man in Maine this week is an Army veteran who has struggled with serious mental health issues since early childhood and never should have been given a badge and gun to patrol American streets, several of his close relatives told The Associated Press. David Brouillette has a history of terrifying and violent behavior, according to those relatives. They accuse him of attacking women in his life…

Read More Read More

Iran tells Houthis to close Red Sea gateway if U.S. hits power network, sources say

Iran tells Houthis to close Red Sea gateway if U.S. hits power network, sources say

Reuters reports: Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat ​to global energy supplies. The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic’s leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran’s Houthi allies, two senior Iranian ‌sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The…

Read More Read More

JD Vance accuses Israel of ‘manipulating’ U.S. public opinion to prolong Iran war

JD Vance accuses Israel of ‘manipulating’ U.S. public opinion to prolong Iran war

BBC News reports: US Vice-President JD Vance has accused some members of the Israeli government of trying to influence Americans’ opinions to prolong the Iran war. In an interview published on Wednesday, Vance told conservative podcaster Joe Rogan that while he trusts some people within the Israeli government, there are others “who are manipulating and trying to change American public opinion to keep the war going on indefinitely”. The Israeli government did not immediately respond to Vance’s comments. White House…

Read More Read More

Trump blatantly tries to manipulate markets by selling fast access Truth Social to Wall Street firms

Trump blatantly tries to manipulate markets by selling fast access Truth Social to Wall Street firms

The New Republic reports: The thin veil that has historically clouded government corruption is in the trash—under the current Trump administration, blatant ethical misconduct is in. Truth Social executives announced Thursday that the company would sell Wall Street firms premier access to Donald Trump’s market-rattling online posts, granting traders an advantage over the general public with regard to anticipating stock market fluctuations due to the president’s social media habits. The product, marketed as “Truth API,” apparently aims to make fast…

Read More Read More

How the World Cup helped America see itself afresh

How the World Cup helped America see itself afresh

Surbhi Gupta and Danny Postel write: The owner of Parkwood Deli in Midland Park, New Jersey, Roger Schnorrbusch — known to his nearly 830,000 TikTok followers as “the deli guy” — has been serving sandwiches for over two decades. A viral personality due to his hyped-up, theatrical videos featuring him whipping up a chicken parmesan sandwich or an eggplant parm stacked with hot peppers, his videos rack up thousands of views, and customers come in from as far as California…

Read More Read More

A forever war in the making

A forever war in the making

Ali Vaez writes: The memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran halted their war and provided a framework for talks over Iran’s nuclear program. Less than a month after it was signed, it has failed, and a document intended to halt a war has instead become a reason for resuming it. The immediate dispute concerns who controls the Strait of Hormuz, but more is at stake. The collapse of even this minimal understanding could remove the last barrier…

Read More Read More

In seismic shift, more than 100 House Democrats vote to end Israel aid

In seismic shift, more than 100 House Democrats vote to end Israel aid

Politico reports: Nearly half of House Democrats voted to cut off aid to Israel Wednesday, underscoring a seismic shift in political support for the longtime U.S. ally. The amendment to a State Department spending bill would have eliminated $3.3 billion in funding, and thanks to strong Republican support for the Jewish state, it failed 314-104 . But the vote served as a moment of reckoning for House Democrats who have had to confront years of voter outrage about Israel’s handling…

Read More Read More

One-state solution gains growing support among Jewish Americans

One-state solution gains growing support among Jewish Americans

JTA reports: For much of the modern history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the phrase “one-state solution” was a fringe idea, especially among Jewish supporters of Israel. The proposal that Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs would live under one government was largely seen as the very antithesis of Zionism, which asserts the legitimacy of Jewish nationalism and the right to establish a Jewish-led state in Jews’ ancestral homeland. That is changing — at least in some corners of the Jewish world….

Read More Read More

Gaza flotilla activist recounts being raped by Israeli prison guards

Gaza flotilla activist recounts being raped by Israeli prison guards

The Guardian reports: The third time Anna Liedtke was subjected to an illegal strip-search in Israeli detention, female prison guards forced her on to her knees, covered her mouth to stop her screaming and raped her, according to interviews and a criminal complaint filed in Israel. She described hearing male guards laughing during the attack, which she believes they watched and may have filmed. It took place in an area separated from the prison hallway by a partially drawn curtain…

Read More Read More

Generative AI is a shockingly inefficient trillion-dollar project

Generative AI is a shockingly inefficient trillion-dollar project

Alex Reisner writes: As they scramble to keep their systems online, AI companies are making things expensive for the rest of us. Large language models such as ChatGPT and Claude are so resource-hungry that tech companies may be purchasing 70 percent of the world’s supply of high-end computer memory, causing a shortage. As a result, the prices of computer memory and storage are skyrocketing: Hard drives that I bought for my reporting two years ago for $350 each were $800…

Read More Read More

Bipartisan group of senators introduces legislation to avert looming Social Security shortfall

Bipartisan group of senators introduces legislation to avert looming Social Security shortfall

The Associated Press reports: With Social Security’s looming insolvency date roughly six years away, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a proposal Tuesday to grapple with one of the most consequential financial challenges facing the federal government. The Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone, or PROMISE Act, comes on the heels of the latest Social Security Board of Trustees’ annual report, which found that Social Security’s retirement trust fund is projected to face a funding shortfall in…

Read More Read More

Landmaxxing: The latest need for misanthropic billionaires who can’t get enough

Landmaxxing: The latest need for misanthropic billionaires who can’t get enough

The Real Deal reports: Buying mansions here and there is not enough for the uber-rich. “Landmaxxing,” or buying up adjacent properties to assemble sprawling private compounds, has been a major part of the ultra-luxury market this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. Compounds are increasingly in demand, and some of the business world’s biggest names are leading the trend. In South Florida, Citadel billionaire Ken Griffin dropped more than $450 million to piece together a 27-acre Palm Beach compound. Griffin…

Read More Read More

Why Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz after decades of holding back

Why Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz after decades of holding back

By Ben Soodavar, King’s College London US forces have struck hundreds of Iranian targets – including in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas – over three consecutive nights in a bid by the US president, Donald Trump, to regain some modicum of control over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has also inscribed the US as the “guardian” of the vital waterway. He has revived a naval blockade of Iranian ports and briefly demanded a 20% charge on all cargo…

Read More Read More

ICE orders suspension of most vehicle stops after two killings in a week

ICE orders suspension of most vehicle stops after two killings in a week

Nick Miroff writes: Late last night, at the end of a day that started with the killing of a 26-year-old Colombian man in Maine, the second fatal shooting involving a vehicle stop in a week, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Liana Castano sent out an email to top ICE supervisors around the country. “Effective immediately,” Castano wrote, “vehicle stops are suspended until further notice.” It was an extraordinary directive to ICE officers on the street, essentially telling them to…

Read More Read More