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Category: Politics

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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Charlie Kirk didn’t shy away from who he was. Neither should we

Charlie Kirk didn’t shy away from who he was. Neither should we

Jamelle Bouie writes: Virtually every person of note in American politics has, rightfully, condemned the horrific killing of Charlie Kirk and expressed their deep concerns about the growing incidence of political violence in the United States. Wherever we stand politically, we all agree that he should still be alive. There has been less agreement about Kirk’s life and work. Death tends to soften our tendency to judge. And sudden, violent death — especially one as gruesome and shocking as this…

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Trumponomics is about Trump far more than it is about economics

Trumponomics is about Trump far more than it is about economics

Derek Thompson writes: Is Donald Trump a staunch capitalist, a secret socialist, a blend of the two, or none of the above? Depending on the day, it’s hard to tell. Some of his initiatives are pure Ronald Reagan, such as his corporate-income tax cuts and deregulation efforts targeted at oil and gas. Some of his interventions would impress a Democratic Socialists of America chapter, such as demanding a public stake in Intel, requesting 15 percent of revenues from Nvidia’s chip…

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Sen. Chris Van Hollen criticizes Democratic leaders for delay in endorsing Zohran Mamdani

Sen. Chris Van Hollen criticizes Democratic leaders for delay in endorsing Zohran Mamdani

The New York Times reports: Senator Chris Van Hollen, Democrat of Maryland, endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor of New York City on Saturday and called on his party’s leadership to do the same, criticizing them for a delay that he said had allowed President Trump to exploit Democratic divisions. Mr. Van Hollen said Mr. Mamdani, the party’s nominee, was focused on “ensuring that people can afford to live in the place where they work,” a goal that “Donald Trump and…

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Elon Musk calls for dissolution of British parliament at huge far-right rally in London

Elon Musk calls for dissolution of British parliament at huge far-right rally in London

The Guardian reports: Elon Musk has called for a “dissolution of parliament” and a “change of government” in the UK while addressing a crowd attending a “unite the kingdom” rally in London, organised by the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson. Musk, the owner of X, who dialled in via a video link and spoke to Robinson while thousands watched and listened, also railed against the “woke mind virus” and told the crowd that “violence is coming” and…

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As the world recognizes a Palestinian state, Israel’s E1 plan moves to bury it

As the world recognizes a Palestinian state, Israel’s E1 plan moves to bury it

+972 reports: On the scorched hills to the east of Jerusalem, the Israeli settlement of Ma’ale Adumim spreads outward, casting a long shadow over the bustling Palestinian town of Ezariyah. These are the hills where Israel is set to break ground on its E1 settlement bloc, carving the West Bank in two in a bid to erase the possibility of a Palestinian state once and for all. If realized, the Israeli plan to build 3,400 new settlement homes — which…

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Making sense of our dark new era of extremely online political violence

Making sense of our dark new era of extremely online political violence

Ryan Broderick & Adam Bumas write: In 2017, [Tyler] Robinson [Charlie Kirk’s alleged killer] appears to have dressed up in a costume of President Donald Trump, with the Trump’s face painted green. A possible reference to the Pepe the Frog edit of Trump that the president first shared in 2015. And in 2018, Robinson appears to have dressed up as a “squatting slav” Pepe meme. As easy as it is to point to these costumes as proof that Robinson was…

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Kash Patel fumbled out of the gate on the Charlie Kirk murder investigation — and MAGA noticed

Kash Patel fumbled out of the gate on the Charlie Kirk murder investigation — and MAGA noticed

Politico reports: It’s never a good idea for the FBI director to wrongly suggest that a criminal suspect has been caught — but for Kash Patel, the moment was especially ill-timed. On Wednesday evening, as the investigation into the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk unfolded in Utah, Patel bungled one of his first messages to the public. He prematurely seemed to declare that the shooter had been captured. “The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the…

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