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Category: Human rights/civil liberties

Former Jimmy Kimmel writer, Bess Kalb: ‘I thought we were entering a new golden age of free speech’

Former Jimmy Kimmel writer, Bess Kalb: ‘I thought we were entering a new golden age of free speech’

  Bess Kalb testified before the House Judiciary Committee on February 23: I am a comedy writer, I wrote for Jimmy Kimmel Live for eight years, and I am an author who recently got back from a national tour for my picture book series, Buffalo Fluffalo. So the fact that I am sitting here in a navy blue business suit in the capitol building at a hearing about the First Amendment means something has gone very, very wrong. I gotta…

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Americans’ sympathies have shifted dramatically away from Israelis in favor of Palestinians, poll shows

Americans’ sympathies have shifted dramatically away from Israelis in favor of Palestinians, poll shows

The Associated Press reports: American sympathies in the Middle East have shifted dramatically toward the Palestinians, according to new Gallup polling, after decades of overwhelming support for the Israelis. That shift accelerated during the war in Gaza. Three years ago, 54% of Americans sympathized more with the Israelis, compared to 31% for the Palestinians. Now, their support is about evenly balanced, with 41% saying their sympathies lie more with the Palestinians, and only 36% saying the same about the Israelis….

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Jailed for ‘standing up’: DHS assault victim Aliya Rahman arrested at State of the Union address

Jailed for ‘standing up’: DHS assault victim Aliya Rahman arrested at State of the Union address

  We speak with Minneapolis resident Aliya Rahman, who attended Tuesday’s State of the Union address as a guest of Congressmember Ilhan Omar. Rahman was removed from the chamber Tuesday and spent several hours in jail following what she describes as an aggressive arrest by Capitol Police — all for silently challenging Trump during the speech. “There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up,” says Rahman….

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DHS assault victim Aliya Rahman arrested at State of the Union address

DHS assault victim Aliya Rahman arrested at State of the Union address

  We speak with Minneapolis resident Aliya Rahman, who attended Tuesday’s State of the Union address as a guest of Congressmember Ilhan Omar. Rahman was removed from the chamber Tuesday and spent several hours in jail following what she describes as an aggressive arrest by Capitol Police — all for silently challenging Trump during the speech. “There are only two things you can do at the State of the Union, and they are sit down and stand up,” says Rahman….

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Your car’s tire sensors could be used to track you

Your car’s tire sensors could be used to track you

TechXplore reports: Researchers at IMDEA Networks Institute, together with European partners, have found that tire pressure sensors in modern cars can unintentionally expose drivers to tracking. Over a ten-week study, they collected signals from more than 20,000 vehicles, revealing a hidden privacy risk and highlighting the need for stronger security measures in future vehicle sensor systems. Most modern cars are equipped with a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), mandatory since the late 2000s in many countries for their contribution to…

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Elon Musk’s destruction of USAID has left massive death and destruction in its wake

Elon Musk’s destruction of USAID has left massive death and destruction in its wake

Bill McKay writes: This decade has seen the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives in violent conflicts: in the Tigray War in Ethiopia, in civil war in Myanmar, in the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, and most recently in the RSF massacres in the Sudanese city of Al-Fashir, to name just a few. Yet the largest act of mass murder of this decade, and of this century so far, was not…

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With foreign backing, Israel’s solar energy boom is powering apartheid

With foreign backing, Israel’s solar energy boom is powering apartheid

Sofia Fani Gutman, Carolina Pedrazzi and Andrey X report: “How do you charge your phones?” we asked. “With the sun,” Ahmad replied, nodding toward the small cluster of solar panels behind him. For 47 years, the tiny hamlet of Naba’a Al-Ghazzal, part of the community of Al-Farsiya, has survived on the northern edge of the Jordan Valley in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Home to around 20 members of the Daraghmeh family — including Ahmad, the community’s informal leader — all…

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Allegations in Epstein files may amount to ‘crimes against humanity,’ UN experts say

Allegations in Epstein files may amount to ‘crimes against humanity,’ UN experts say

Reuters reports: Millions of files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein suggest the existence of a “global criminal enterprise” that carried out acts meeting the legal threshold of crimes against humanity, according to a panel of independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. The experts said crimes outlined in documents released by the U.S. Justice Department were committed against a backdrop of supremacist beliefs, racism, corruption and extreme misogyny. The crimes, they said, showed a…

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After my ICE arrest, I learned one crucial way to respond to trauma. We can all take part

After my ICE arrest, I learned one crucial way to respond to trauma. We can all take part

Rümeysa Öztürk writes: It started off as a normal Tuesday. On 25 March 2025 I reviewed applications from university students applying for a summer research position at my lab. I told friends I would bring pastries from Harvard Square for the Friday dinner we were planning. I finalized my schedule for an upcoming child development conference. I worked on my dissertation proposal. The day was busy but not unusual – until I left home after quickly dressing for an iftar…

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The key to defeating Trump? Mass non-cooperation through civil resistance

The key to defeating Trump? Mass non-cooperation through civil resistance

Mark Engler and Paul Engler write: In the wake of two horrifying killings of legal observers in Minnesota, on top of the abduction of countless immigrant community members, the country has reached a turning point. Backlash against ICE’s lawlessness and aggression has reverberated so loudly that even Trump has heard it. But the effects on ordinary Americans contemplating what they would do if they lived in Minneapolis or St Paul is perhaps even more profound. The extraordinary level of grassroots…

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Warehouse owner won’t sell Texas property to ICE for migrant detention center

Warehouse owner won’t sell Texas property to ICE for migrant detention center

The Dallas Morning News reports: The owner of a Dallas County warehouse that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had planned to use as a mega detention center said Monday it will not sell or lease the property to the federal government. “God answered our prayers,” Hutchins Mayor Mario Vasquez said after learning of the company’s decision. Internal ICE documents revealed that the agency had wanted to use the warehouse in Hutchins to house up to 9,500 migrants as the agency pushes…

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Trump’s campaign of violence using ‘less lethal’ weapons against protesters

Trump’s campaign of violence using ‘less lethal’ weapons against protesters

NBC News reports: They batter bodies with rubber bullets and sear eyes with pepper spray. They lob tear gas and explosive flash-bangs at chanting crowds. They smash car windows. They shove people to the ground. They ram vehicles and point their guns. Federal officers carrying out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in cities across the country have shot 13 people with guns. But far more often, they have used harsh tactics to scare or repel those they see as getting…

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Beyond the major cities, ICE is rattling small-town and exurban America

Beyond the major cities, ICE is rattling small-town and exurban America

The New York Times reports: President Trump may be ending the surge of immigration agents in the Twin Cities, but his mass deportation effort has already extended well past large, liberal cities like Minneapolis, to small communities where the national spotlight does not exist but the impact can be at least as acute. In places like Cornelius, Ore., Danbury, Conn., Biddeford, Maine, and Coon Rapids, Minn., where moderation, not partisanship, might predominate, the arrival of Immigration and Customs Enforcement —…

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ICE operations increasingly resemble Israeli occupation. That’s no coincidence

ICE operations increasingly resemble Israeli occupation. That’s no coincidence

Sophia Goodfriend writes: As U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have swarmed cities across the United States, American politics has appeared to enter a new phase, one in which armed federal forces turn civilian neighborhoods into active conflict zones. Part of what is driving this political shift is a potent technical infrastructure: ICE operations are now expedited by mobile surveillance and targeting systems, where agents’ most powerful weapon can fit in the palm of their hands. Recent reporting has…

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ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion turning warehouses into concentration camps

ICE plans to spend $38.3 billion turning warehouses into concentration camps

The Washington Post reports: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement expects to spend $38.3 billion on its plan to acquire warehouses across the country and retrofit them into immigrant detention centers that can hold tens of thousands of immigrants, according to documents the agency provided to New Hampshire’s governor and published on the state’s website Thursday. ICE plans to buy and convert 16 buildings across the country to serve as regional processing centers, each holding 1,000 to 1,500 immigrant detainees at…

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