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Category: Politics

The U.S. just approved a giant space mirror to test ‘sunlight on demand.’ Low Earth orbit is getting weird

The U.S. just approved a giant space mirror to test ‘sunlight on demand.’ Low Earth orbit is getting weird

Reflect Orbital’s plans to have more than 50,000 satellites reflecting sunlight back to earth could disrupt the circadian rhythms of plants, animals and humans. (Unsplash/Mariana Proença) By Samantha Lawler, University of Regina and Aaron Boley, University of British Columbia A giant mirror to create “sunlight on demand” was just approved by the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC), despite opposition from astronomers and the public, and real safety concerns. The FCC approved the company Reflect Orbital to test one satellite,…

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New York Times journalists subpoenaed as Trump escalates pressure on media

New York Times journalists subpoenaed as Trump escalates pressure on media

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration issued subpoenas on Friday to several journalists for The New York Times, after the news outlet reported this week on security concerns involving President Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One. The subpoenas — which seek to force the reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday — were an extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations. In some cases, the subpoenas were…

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Iran declares Strait of Hormuz closed as ‘unauthorised’ vessel hit; U.S. launches more strikes

Iran declares Strait of Hormuz closed as ‘unauthorised’ vessel hit; U.S. launches more strikes

Reuters reports: The U.S. military said ​it launched another round of strikes on Iran after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck a container ship traveling through the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. A series of attacks ‌between the U.S. and Iran over the past several days led President Donald Trump to declare the end of a ceasefire meant to halt the fighting that the U.S. and Israel began on February 28, though Trump has left the door open to continued…

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U.S. Treasury borrowed $155 billion every month this fiscal year. Now paying $24 billion a week interest

U.S. Treasury borrowed $155 billion every month this fiscal year. Now paying $24 billion a week interest

Fortune reports: Despite concerns from debt hawks, the U.S. government is continuing to borrow at pace: For the fiscal year of 2026 so far, the federal deficit has totaled just under $1.4 trillion. The first nine months of this fiscal year (beginning in October) have now surpassed the borrowing levels of 2025, when deficits totaled just over $1.3 trillion for the same period. At the time of writing, the total U.S. national debt sits at $39.4 trillion, accumulated under administrations…

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DHS wants to create its own round-the-clock deportation airline

DHS wants to create its own round-the-clock deportation airline

Bloomberg reports: The US government is moving ahead with plans to create its own fleet of government-owned aircraft to bolster deportations. The Department of Homeland Security is beginning a search for a company to operate planes that would help carry out deportation flights, respond to emergencies and transport senior officials. The department asked aviation companies this week to describe how they would operate and maintain the fleet, which would include two C-37B or equivalent Gulfstream 650ERs and seven Boeing 737-700s…

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U.S. employers told to dismiss thousands of currently legal immigrant workers

U.S. employers told to dismiss thousands of currently legal immigrant workers

The New York Times reports: The Homeland Security Department told employers on Friday that they must let go in coming weeks the hundreds of thousands of foreign workers who have been allowed to live in the United States through a humanitarian program the Trump administration has sought to dismantle. The work permits of Haitians with Temporary Protected Status will expire on July 24. Such permits will also lapse on July 17 for those from Ethiopia, Myanmar, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria…

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Six-hour polygraphs, forced reassignments: Inside Homeland Security’s campaign of fear

Six-hour polygraphs, forced reassignments: Inside Homeland Security’s campaign of fear

The Guardian reports: Federal officials tasked with implementing the Trump administration’s “mass deportation” program faced an extraordinary campaign of intimidation inside the Department of Homeland Security during the final months of Kristi Noem’s tenure and the arrival of her successor, a Guardian investigation found. Over the past four months, the Guardian spoke with more than three dozen current and former Department of Homeland Security officials who described a climate of fear driven by Trump loyalists in senior positions, who sidelined…

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‘A brilliant reprieve, a unifying force’: America falls in love with the World Cup

‘A brilliant reprieve, a unifying force’: America falls in love with the World Cup

The Guardian reports: There were plenty of reasons to believe the US hosting the World Cup would be a disaster. In the year and a half leading up to the kick-off, Donald Trump had threatened to annex tournament co-host Canada, and to invade the other co-host, Mexico; he was at war with one of the tournament’s participants, Iran. Harsh travel restrictions were preventing fans from Senegal, Ivory Coast and Haiti from getting visas. Ticket prices were outrageous. Hotels weren’t filling…

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Houston ICE fatal shooting witnesses independently recount driver did not try to ram agents

Houston ICE fatal shooting witnesses independently recount driver did not try to ram agents

The Washington Post reports: The three men who were arrested during an immigration operation that resulted in the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo said a federal officer fired at them almost immediately after exiting his vehicle and that at no point did the driver veer in his direction. The migrants are disputing key elements of the Department of Homeland Security’s account of what transpired during a chaotic traffic stop in a predominantly Mexican American neighborhood in Houston on Tuesday….

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Trump triggers vitriolic attacks targeting kindergartners in Minnesota

Trump triggers vitriolic attacks targeting kindergartners in Minnesota

The Washington Post reports: Hateful emails and phone calls targeted a Minnesota school serving Somali families after President Donald Trump shared a video of its kindergartners on Truth Social this week, an episode that many Somali Americans see as an escalation of a sustained campaign of political and rhetorical attacks during Trump’s second term, community leaders said. On Wednesday, Trump reposted a video from a kindergarten graduation ceremony at Gateway STEM Academy, a K-8 charter school in St. Paul. In…

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Mexico threatens legal action over citizens’ deaths in ICE custody

Mexico threatens legal action over citizens’ deaths in ICE custody

Axios reports: Mexico plans to file criminal complaints in the United States over the deaths of Mexican nationals in ICE custody, Mexico’s Foreign Minister Roberto Velasco Álvarez said Thursday. Why it matters: Mexico had already made diplomatic complaints about the deaths, but taking the United States to court would raise the stakes for the Trump administration as foreign governments and rights advocates continue to scrutinize ICE deaths. What they’re saying: “We’re going to do everything we can in our power,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters at…

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Trump cuts habitat protections for endangered species

Trump cuts habitat protections for endangered species

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration on Friday moved to open the habitats of imperiled animals to farming, drilling, mining, real estate development and other activities in what environmentalists characterized as the most severe erosion of protections for wildlife in half a century. It did so by recasting a single word, “harm.” For more than 50 years, the federal government has used a broader definition of harm to animals under the Endangered Species Act, a bedrock environmental law….

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CIA analysts can sense the threat from above

CIA analysts can sense the threat from above

Shane Harris writes: The CIA officer Ray Cline, who was the agency’s chief analyst during the Cuban missile crisis, once observed that when it comes to intelligence analysis, “objectivity is the only virtue that really counts.” By that standard, senior Trump-administration officials have fallen short, and they risk corrupting a system that’s supposed to remain apolitical and grounded in facts, according to a recent survey of CIA analysts. Since Donald Trump returned to office, the number of CIA employees who…

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The ecology of dispossession in the West Bank

The ecology of dispossession in the West Bank

Diana Kruzman writes: In late April of last year, Israeli officials left three notices informing Bassem Mansour, a farmer from the Palestinian community of Deir Istiya in the northern West Bank, that three of his citrus tree plots were violating the boundaries of Wadi Qana, a protected nature reserve. The notices ordered Mansour to remove the saplings immediately, or he would be subject to “arrest, prosecution, and penalties.” Mansour, like many other Palestinian farmers in the area, was forced to…

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Ongoing conflict with Iran amounts to near-total failure in the mission Trump promised

Ongoing conflict with Iran amounts to near-total failure in the mission Trump promised

David Sanger writes: Just two weeks ago, opening the Great American State Fair, President Trump triumphantly declared: “For the first time in 3,000 years, we are going to have peace in the Middle East.” It was typical bravado for Mr. Trump. But the “peace” he was celebrating — the cease-fire with Iran that on Wednesday he declared “over” after less than a month — was already beginning to unravel. The result was perhaps predictable for a 14-paragraph memorandum of understanding…

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Cover-up: Witnesses pressured to self-deport after ICE killing in Texas

Cover-up: Witnesses pressured to self-deport after ICE killing in Texas

Greg Sargent writes: After a federal agent killed an undocumented Mexican man in his van during a traffic stop in Houston on Tuesday, the government rushed to follow a familiar template. Just as it has after other shootings, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement insisting that the man, Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, had “weaponized his vehicle” against the officer, who then justifiably opened fire. DHS offered no evidence of this. But it appears three other people were in the…

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