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Category: Politics

A ‘broken’ trust: FBI agents fired by Kash Patel speak out

A ‘broken’ trust: FBI agents fired by Kash Patel speak out

The New York Times reports: Chris Meyer, a field agent assigned to fly the F.B.I. director Kash Patel’s plane until last month, knew he was in trouble over the summer when a pro-Trump influencer claimed, without a wisp of proof, that he was “THE” main agent in the Mar-a-Lago documents investigation. Mr. Meyer said he was never assigned to that case. Moreover, he added, he was on a lakeside vacation with his family in Virginia when the F.B.I. conducted its…

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The lies Washington tells itself about the Middle East

The lies Washington tells itself about the Middle East

Hussein Agha and Robert Malley write: On any given day during the long war in Gaza, a Biden administration official could be expected to assert any of the following: a cease-fire was around the corner, the United States was working tirelessly to achieve one, it cared equally about the Israelis and the Palestinians, a historic Saudi-Israeli normalization deal was at hand, and all this was bound up with an irreversible path to Palestinian statehood. Not one of those pronouncements bore…

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The old San Francisco tech scene is dead. What it’s morphing into is far more sinister

The old San Francisco tech scene is dead. What it’s morphing into is far more sinister

Ariana Bindman writes: While San Francisco’s tech world has always been obnoxious on a cultural level due to its own lack of self-awareness, what it’s morphing into now is downright terrifying. As websites like Teespring continue to peddle pumpkin spice propaganda to die-hard autumnal girlies, OpenAI and Anthropic are sucking up billions of dollars in funding, signaling a new dawn in the Bay Area’s capitalist landscape. Perhaps in a futile effort to keep up, powerful biotech, hardware and software companies…

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White House plans broad crackdown on liberal groups while rooting out ‘domestic terror movement’

White House plans broad crackdown on liberal groups while rooting out ‘domestic terror movement’

The New York Times reports: Trump administration officials on Monday responded to the activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination by threatening to bring the weight of the federal government down on what they alleged was a left-wing network that funds and incites violence, seizing on the killing to make broad and unsubstantiated claims about their political opponents. Investigators were still working to identify a motive in Mr. Kirk’s killing, but the Republican governor of Utah, Spencer Cox, has said that the suspect…

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Trump’s ties to Big Tech and his commitment to promoting AI are provoking a MAGA backlash

Trump’s ties to Big Tech and his commitment to promoting AI are provoking a MAGA backlash

Politico reports: President Donald Trump’s AI action plan has set off a backlash from some of the biggest figures in the America First movement — a rift expected to shape the next round of arguments in Congress about how to turbocharge the technology. Trump’s rush toward AI is exposing an important faultline in the Republican coalition: Many of its voters and leaders deeply mistrust the power of Big Tech, but Trump himself has worked closely with industry CEOs to deliver…

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Trump threatens major probe of ‘the left’ over Charlie Kirk assassination

Trump threatens major probe of ‘the left’ over Charlie Kirk assassination

The Daily Beast reports: Donald Trump boasted his administration has launched a “major investigation” into people on “the left” over the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Trump did not provide details on the probe but teased an upcoming announcement as he tore into his perceived political enemies over the fatal shooting of his close ally in Utah last week. “If you look at the problem, the problem is on the left. It’s not on the right,” he said. “When…

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Fired prosecutor, Maurene Comey, challenges Trump’s claims to sweeping power in lawsuit

Fired prosecutor, Maurene Comey, challenges Trump’s claims to sweeping power in lawsuit

The New York Times reports: Maurene Comey, a federal prosecutor who handled criminal cases against Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, is contesting her abrupt July firing in a lawsuit that challenges Donald J. Trump’s claim of sweeping presidential power. Ms. Comey, whose father, James B. Comey, is a former F.B.I. director, says in the lawsuit filed on Monday that she was never given a reason for her dismissal. She contends that no plausible explanation exists other than that she is…

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Farmers in deep-red Pennsylvania struggle to find workers as migrant labor is increasingly hard to find

Farmers in deep-red Pennsylvania struggle to find workers as migrant labor is increasingly hard to find

Politico reports: As House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson prepares to introduce legislation aimed at easing the farm labor crisis, farmers in the Pennsylvania Republican’s district are hoping he’s heard their cries that they need more help right now. In Tioga County, where President Donald Trump won 75 percent of the vote in 2024, farmers are losing patience with the White House’s promise of a quick solution for farm workers. Their urgent need is highlighted by stories like those of a…

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China’s choice to stop buying U.S. soybeans creates a crisis for American farmers

China’s choice to stop buying U.S. soybeans creates a crisis for American farmers

The New York Times reports: On a windy September morning, Josh and Jordan Gackle huddled to discuss the looming crisis facing their North Dakota soybean farm. For the first time in the history of their 76-year-old operation, their biggest customer — China — had stopped buying soybeans. Their 2,300-acre soybean farm is projected to lose $400,000 in 2025. Soybeans that would normally be harvested and exported to Asia are now set to pile up in large steel bins. Since President…

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Detained Korean workers report ‘human rights violations’ by ICE after being treated like dogs

Detained Korean workers report ‘human rights violations’ by ICE after being treated like dogs

Hankyoreh reports (translated from Korean to English by Google): Their waists and hands were tied together, forcing them to bend down and lick water to drink. The unscreened bathrooms contained only a single sheet to cover their lower bodies. Sunlight barely penetrated through a fist-sized hole, and they were only allowed access to the small yard for two hours. Detained by US immigration authorities for eight days, the workers and their families expressed shock, describing human rights violations and absurdities…

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Inside Stephen Miller’s reign of terror

Inside Stephen Miller’s reign of terror

Rolling Stone reports: During intra-agency discussions, Miller has routinely name-called, yelled, threatened officials’ jobs or future in the party, and attempted to humiliate people in front of their colleagues. He becomes enraged if he feels the immigrant-arrest numbers aren’t padded enough, or if he believes Trump’s domestic agenda is being stalled, even slightly. He is known for working long hours and micromanaging the brutal policies coming out of the new administration. He has a longstanding reputation, dating back to 2017,…

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The real reason Trump poses a threat to the economy

The real reason Trump poses a threat to the economy

Jonathan Cohn writes: With his broad shoulders, thick arms, and even thicker New England accent, ironworker David Langlais is exactly the sort of American who is supposed to love Donald Trump’s policies. But Langlais says he is dumbfounded by some of the president’s recent decisions, especially the one that halted work on an energy project off the coast of Rhode Island. The project is called Revolution Wind. When it is completed—or, more accurately, if it is completed—it will consist of…

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Exhilarating the MAGA base with the promise of avenging the nation through racial warfare

Exhilarating the MAGA base with the promise of avenging the nation through racial warfare

Joe Lowndes writes: A few days before Trump posted the “Chipocalypse Now” meme [targeting Chicago] on Truth Social, the fifth annual National Conservatism Conference (NatCon 5) was underway in Washington. That gathering, which has grown in influence over the last half-decade, mixed members of the Trump administration and elected officials with far-right influencers, white supremacists, Christian nationalists and far-right intellectuals. The main theme of the event was America under assault — meaning not an assault on its freedoms, its democracy…

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Why Putin has no intention of ending his war against the West

Why Putin has no intention of ending his war against the West

Politico reports: When Vladimir Putin sent at least 19 drones into Poland last week, the Russian president was delivering a message: He’s not planning to end his war against the West anytime soon. The Russian incursion into NATO airspace follows weeks of aerial attacks in Ukraine that killed dozens of civilians, damaged buildings housing the EU and British delegations and struck for the first time a government building in central Kyiv. Far from being ready to strike a peace deal…

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Secret report undercuts British government’s condemnations of Palestine Action group

Secret report undercuts British government’s condemnations of Palestine Action group

The New York Times reports: The British government has fiercely defended its decision to ban a pro-Palestinian group under a decades-old terrorism statute, a designation reserved mainly for Islamic militants and neo-Nazis. The rationale to outlaw the group, Palestine Action, was based on “clear advice and intelligence” after an “escalating campaign involving intimidation and sustained criminal damage,” Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said on Monday. Activists from the group have vandalized weapon factories and military equipment. Mr. Jarvis said the…

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George Washington’s worries are coming true

George Washington’s worries are coming true

President George Washington warned in his farewell address about partisanship, sectionalism, excessive public debt, ambitious leaders and a poorly informed public. Mike Rosiana/iStock via Getty Images Plus By Robert A. Strong, University of Virginia The United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the country’s founding document, in 2026. Twenty years later, America will celebrate the 250th anniversary of President George Washington’s Farewell Address, which was published on Sept. 19, 1796. The two documents are the…

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