Judge chastises DOJ lawyers for ‘waste of time’ in deposition of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino

Judge chastises DOJ lawyers for ‘waste of time’ in deposition of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino

Chicago Tribune reports: The deposition of Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino nearly ground to a halt last week as government lawyers repeatedly objected to questions by plaintiffs’ attorneys, including some about communications between Bovino and White House adviser Stephen Miller, court records obtained by the Tribune show. The impasse prompted attorneys for both sides to go before U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis in the middle of Bovino’s sworn testimony on Thursday, where lawyers for the Justice Department complained that Bovino…

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Trump at center of governing chaos through contradictory statements on SNAP payments

Trump at center of governing chaos through contradictory statements on SNAP payments

HuffPost reports: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that federal food benefits won’t be distributed until after Democrats agree to reopen the government. Hours later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt contradicted the president, saying food benefits would go out after all. As of Tuesday afternoon, it was basically unclear what was going on, except that Donald Trump had placed himself at the center of governing chaos. In a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, Trump said Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program…

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Norway’s sovereign-wealth fund votes against $1 trillion compensation for Elon Musk

Norway’s sovereign-wealth fund votes against $1 trillion compensation for Elon Musk

electrek reports: A major Tesla shareholder announced that they are voting against Elon Musk’s CEO compensation package, but the odds are still in his favor. As we have been extensively reporting over the last few weeks, Tesla shareholders are set to vote on a new compensation package for Elon Musk worth up to $1 trillion. The package is highly controversial. On one hand, the board, Musk, and his fans are presenting it as an “all or nothing” situation on which…

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The rise of a new American oligarchy: Top 10 billionaires’ collective wealth grew by $698bn in past year

The rise of a new American oligarchy: Top 10 billionaires’ collective wealth grew by $698bn in past year

The Guardian reports: The collective wealth of the top 10 US billionaires has soared by $698bn in the past year, according to a new report from Oxfam America published on Monday on the growing wealth divide. The report warns that Trump administration policies risk driving US inequality to new heights, but points out that both Republican and Democratic administrations have exacerbated the US’s growing wealth gap. Using Federal Reserve data from 1989 to 2022, researchers also calculated that the top…

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Chicago woman dragged out of her car after collision with masked federal thugs demands accountability

Chicago woman dragged out of her car after collision with masked federal thugs demands accountability

  Chicago Tribune reports: Dayanne Figueroa was on her way to get coffee before heading to work when she encountered a chaotic scene in West Town: heavily armed, masked federal agents making arrests on a residential street. People yelled as vehicles honked their horn — a sign now used to alert neighbors that immigration federal agents are in the area — and witnesses said federal agents had arrested several landscaper workers presumed to be in the country without authorization. As…

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Trump says ICE raids haven’t gone too far — ‘they haven’t gone far enough’

Trump says ICE raids haven’t gone too far — ‘they haven’t gone far enough’

Fox 13 News Utah: The woman caught on video being detained by ICE agents at Salt Lake City International Airport this week is legally allowed to be in the United States and has the paperwork to prove it, her attorney claimed:   Trump was interviewed for 60 Minutes on October 31: NORAH O’DONNELL: Americans have been watching videos of ICE tackling a young mother, tear gas being used in a Chicago residential neighborhood, and the smashing of car windows. Have…

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Jack Smith isn’t intimidated by Trump

Jack Smith isn’t intimidated by Trump

The New York Times reports: President Trump’s unrelenting fast-track drive to humiliate, investigate and prosecute the people he hates has gained momentum, in part, because his targets have not been in a position to inflict serious retributive pain on him. Jack Smith is different. Mr. Smith, the special counsel who twice indicted Mr. Trump, appears unintimidated by the president’s demand that Republican lawmakers investigate him and that the Justice Department put him in prison for as-yet unproved and unspecified crimes….

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What’s behind Israel’s new plan to divide Gaza in two

What’s behind Israel’s new plan to divide Gaza in two

Muhammad Shehada writes: Since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect, the Trump administration has been hailing the beginning of a new chapter in Gaza. “After so many years of unceasing war and endless danger, today the skies are calm, the guns are silent, the sirens are still, and the sun rises on a Holy Land that is finally at peace,” the president declared during his speech at the Knesset earlier this month. But facts on the ground…

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The psychology of trolling may start with a specific type of envy

The psychology of trolling may start with a specific type of envy

PsyPost reports: A new study reveals a psychological pathway that connects narcissistic personality traits with the tendency to engage in social media trolling. The research suggests this link is partially explained by a person’s feelings of malicious envy and their exposure to antisocial media content. The findings were published in the journal Behaviour & Information Technology. To understand the study, it helps to first understand the concepts involved. Narcissism is a personality trait characterized by a grandiose sense of self-importance,…

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Zohran Mamdani has a point about rent control

Zohran Mamdani has a point about rent control

Rogé Karma writes: Few policies disgust academic economists quite like rent control. In the 1970s, the Swedish economist Assar Lindbeck famously described it as the “most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.” In a 2012 poll of prominent economists, just 2 percent said that rent-control laws have had “a positive impact” on the “amount and quality of broadly affordable rental housing in cities that have used them.” (The Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler sarcastically proposed a…

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The Islamophobic attacks on Zohran Mamdani carry the weight of history and the urgency of the present

The Islamophobic attacks on Zohran Mamdani carry the weight of history and the urgency of the present

Rozina Ali writes: In the autumn of 2008, Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, broke from the Republican Party and endorsed the Democratic nominee for President, Barack Obama. It had been a brutal summer of electoral warfare. Rumors that Obama was Muslim swirled, becoming a significant aspect of the media coverage of his campaign. A group working with his opponent, John McCain, called people in swing states, planted doubts about Obama’s religious background, and asked…

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How Mamdani built bridges to Jewish New Yorkers

How Mamdani built bridges to Jewish New Yorkers

The Forward reports: In his quest to become the first Muslim mayor of the city that is home to the largest Jewish community in the United States, Zohran Mamdani has created a rare coalition of progressive Jews, liberal Zionists, and segments of the Hasidic community. Mamdani, a democratic socialist and critic of Israel, has been boosted by local Jewish elected officials and embraced by prominent rabbis, even as the frontrunner continues to struggle to earn the trust of many Jewish…

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Why the crisis everyone mourns reveals liberal tradition at its most vital

Why the crisis everyone mourns reveals liberal tradition at its most vital

Mike Brock writes: This is, after all, a philosophy blog. And right now, a strange paradox confronts us: at the precise moment when everyone declares liberalism dead or dying, the liberal tradition is displaying more intellectual vitality than I’ve witnessed in my lifetime. The despair is everywhere. Establishment liberals mourn the end of technocratic consensus. Progressives declare the Enlightenment project failed. Conservatives celebrate democracy’s inevitable collapse. Neo-reactionaries publish blueprints for what comes after. Even defenders of liberal democracy often sound…

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