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Category: Politics

Censorship enforced in Texas universities goes beyond even the repression of the McCarthy era

Censorship enforced in Texas universities goes beyond even the repression of the McCarthy era

Adam Serwer writes: Sara Spurgeon, an English professor at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, has been teaching literature for 20 years. But preparing for the spring 2026 semester was the first time she was forced to submit her course materials through a portal to be evaluated by an artificial-intelligence program. It flags anything that might violate new rules laid out by the university chancellor, including a prohibition on the “advocacy/promotion of race or sex-based prejudice,” and a requirement—now Texas state…

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DHS secretary says livestreaming Hasan execution is part of ‘restoring American values’

DHS secretary says livestreaming Hasan execution is part of ‘restoring American values’

The Hill reports: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin stood behind the Trump administration’s decision to livestream the military execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, despite growing bipartisan criticism over the plan. In an interview with CBS News’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Mullin dismissed concerns coming from across party lines that publicizing Hasan’s death by firing squad could inspire extremists or turn the convicted mass murderer into a martyr. “First of all, no one has…

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As Trump’s wall closes in, DHS intimidates a border tribe with surveillance, masked agents and drones

As Trump’s wall closes in, DHS intimidates a border tribe with surveillance, masked agents and drones

ProPublica reports: At 4:59 a.m. on Aug. 25, Verlon Jose, the chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Southern Arizona, received an email from the head of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. Government contractors were en route to conduct soil tests for construction of a 62-mile wall along the Nation’s southern boundary, wrote acting chief patrol agent Henry N. Laxdal. If the tribe wished to have cultural monitors observe the work, they were welcome to, but they could not…

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How a series of miscalculations restarted Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen

How a series of miscalculations restarted Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen

CNN reports: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wanted to make his kingdom a magnet for investment, tourism and the world’s biggest sporting events. Now drones and missiles launched from Yemen are slamming into Saudi cities, drawing the kingdom deeper into the regional turmoil he hoped to leave behind. The civil war in Yemen erupted once again this summer and significantly intensified last month, breaking years of relative calm. Saudi Arabia has for 11 years tried to contain the conflict…

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Africa has become the testing ground for an intrusive eye that never blinks

Africa has become the testing ground for an intrusive eye that never blinks

Reporting from Kampala, Uganda, Megan K. Stack writes: Plainclothes thugs frog-marching a radio commentator from the microphone mid-broadcast. An opposition activist dying after reportedly being barricaded in his house, which was then set on fire. Security forces raiding a powerful independent media company, cutting electricity and imposing a monthlong closure. A reign of terror grips Uganda. Specifically, the reign of Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the country’s belligerent and erratic military chief, who also happens to be the only son of Yoweri…

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A Florida local newspaper ran an op-ed. It was an Iranian fake using OpenAI

A Florida local newspaper ran an op-ed. It was an Iranian fake using OpenAI

The Washington Post reports: “The bill will follow Americans beyond the fighting itself,” an opinion piece in the Port St. Joe Star, a tiny Florida weekly newspaper, warned of the Iran war last month. The article ran under the byline Ervin Hoskins, which has also appeared on articles critical of the war in larger publications including Daily Kos and Middle East Monitor, which together have more than 3 million followers on Facebook. But ChatGPT maker OpenAI said Thursday that Hoskins’s…

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Trump’s diesel deal with Putin won’t help American truckers but it gives a huge boost for Russia

Trump’s diesel deal with Putin won’t help American truckers but it gives a huge boost for Russia

Phillips P. O’Brien writes: With the major story breaking yesterday of the US announcing the purchase of diesel fuel from Russia, followed by a Treasury Department announcement of sanctions relief on Russia (see details below), I am sending out this overview. This development is not only important but it is also indicative of a truth that many (most) people have been unwilling to admit for the last 21 months. The narrow story is the decision by the Trump administration to…

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Japan declares ‘a state of emergency in cyberspace’

Japan declares ‘a state of emergency in cyberspace’

Gizmodo reports: We haven’t quite reached the cyber apocalypse that artificial intelligence companies have warned their technology could unleash on the world, but we’re getting uncomfortably close to a catastrophe on a national scale. According to a report from the Financial Times, Japan is being hammered by cyberattacks, prompting regulators to search for ways to protect financial institutions from potentially devastating disruptions and leading the country to declare “a state of emergency in cyberspace.” Per the report, Japan’s ruling Liberal…

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How Elon Musk’s delusions of grandeur became other people’s reality

How Elon Musk’s delusions of grandeur became other people’s reality

Megan Garber writes: In December 2021, Elon Musk sat for an interview with The Babylon Bee, a conservative satire site. Having covered the typical topics (wokeness, free speech, Elizabeth Warren) and finding themselves with a bit more time to fill, the outlet’s then–creative director closed out the chat with a request. “The Babylon Bee is a Christian organization, and we’re a ministry,” he reminded Musk. So “we’re wondering if you could do us a quick solid and accept Jesus as…

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The biggest source of inequality in the U.S. that no one talks about

The biggest source of inequality in the U.S. that no one talks about

Rogé Karma writes: For 40 years, a huge number of rich business owners have taken advantage of a tax concept known as pass-through income. This anodyne-sounding technique allows millionaires and billionaires to exempt their fortunes from the corporate tax and shield large portions of them from income taxation, depriving the government of trillions of dollars in revenue, driving a huge amount of inequality, and creating a powerful political constituency opposed to reform. “This is arguably the most important development in…

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A blood-red tide is surging across Latin America

A blood-red tide is surging across Latin America

Andre Pagliarini writes: Contrary to the ravings of its most fervent reactionaries, Brazil counts its votes accurately and with remarkable efficiency. So when polls closed at 5 p.m. local time on Sunday, the mood on the left soured quickly. Presidential candidate and Rio de Janeiro Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, whose father watched election coverage under house arrest because he attempted a coup four years ago, never trailed as the results trickled in. His allies running for governor and legislative posts—including his…

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The happiest countries in the world have the highest levels of trust. The U.S. ranks #23

The happiest countries in the world have the highest levels of trust. The U.S. ranks #23

Quartz reports: A single survey question produces the ranking most often cited as a measure of national well-being. Gallup World Poll interviewers ask people in more than 140 countries to picture a ladder numbered zero to 10. The top rung represents the best possible life for them, the bottom rung the worst. Respondents say which rung they stand on today. That question, known as the Cantril ladder, generates the scores behind the World Happiness Report. The happiest countries in the…

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Was Hegseth’s decision to carry out a live televised execution inspired by Charlie Kirk?

Was Hegseth’s decision to carry out a live televised execution inspired by Charlie Kirk?

Pete Hegseth’s announcement that former US Army major Nidal Hasan will be executed by a firing squad and that this will be televised, was made during an interview with far-right commentator, Jack Posobiec. In 2024, Posobiec took part in Charlie Kirk’s weekly panel discussion, ThoughtCrime: Charlie Kirk: "This is my problem with the death penalty, it takes too long, too many appeals. It should be quick, it should be public, it should be televised" https://t.co/GPJTiwQivI — Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec) October…

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‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: Hegseth plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation

‘Medieval’ and ‘disturbing’: Hegseth plan to livestream execution elicits global condemnation

The Guardian reports: The US is facing worldwide condemnation over a “barbaric” plan to execute a disabled man by firing squad and livestream it to the public, with critics comparing the Trump administration to dictatorships in Iran and Afghanistan. The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, would be livestreamed on 3 December. The United Nations’ office of the high…

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Federal judge shuts down Trump DOJ’s nationwide voter roll crusade, even in states that cooperated

Federal judge shuts down Trump DOJ’s nationwide voter roll crusade, even in states that cooperated

Democracy Docket reports: In a major ruling Friday, a federal judge struck down the Trump administration’s nationwide voter roll campaign, delivering a damaging blow to the Department of Justice’s effort to obtain states’ unredacted voter rolls, compare them against federal data and pressure states to remove voters it deems ineligible. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan vacated what DOJ internally called its “list maintenance project,” finding that the department exceeded its statutory authority and violated federal law. The ruling goes far…

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U.S. imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace Prize

U.S. imposes sanctions on ICC hours after former judge wins Nobel Peace Prize

Reuters reports: US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed sanctions on the ​International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize, putting Washington on a diplomatic collision course with European allies. The court denounced the ‌move as an “assault on the rule of law and on the very foundations of the international legal order,” and called on its 125 member states to take action to defend it. “The Court cannot stand alone. Its…

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