Paul Newby has turned North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of far-reaching political power

Paul Newby has turned North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of far-reaching political power

By Doug Bock Clark This story was originally published by ProPublica In early 2023, Paul Newby, the Republican chief justice of North Carolina’s Supreme Court, gave the state and the nation a demonstration of the stunning and overlooked power of his office.  The previous year, the court — then majority Democrat — had outlawed partisan gerrymandering in the swing state. Over Newby’s vehement dissent, it had ordered independent outsiders to redraw electoral maps that the GOP-controlled legislature had crafted to…

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Retired law enforcement officer jailed five weeks for reposting a Facebook meme is freed in Tennessee

Retired law enforcement officer jailed five weeks for reposting a Facebook meme is freed in Tennessee

The Intercept reports: More than a month after he was arrested for sharing a meme on Facebook, 61-year-old Larry Bushart Jr. walked out of the Perry County jail in Linden, Tennessee, on Wednesday, where his wife was waiting to take him home. He wore a weary smile and the same white T-shirt he had on the night he was jailed. A reporter from a local news station, which had previously splashed his mugshot on its website, approached for an interview….

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Chimpanzees can revise their beliefs in the light of new evidence, study finds

Chimpanzees can revise their beliefs in the light of new evidence, study finds

Science Alert reports: Chimpanzees can change their minds when the facts no longer support their previous beliefs – a rational level of thinking that was once considered uniquely human. In a series of experiments designed to test the metacognition of these fascinating apes, psychologist Hanna Schleihauf of Utrecht University and her colleagues observed, for the first time, how chimpanzees can weigh different kinds of evidence – and change their beliefs in response to a stronger argument. “This is really the…

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‘Militarized police force’: Pentagon orders states’ national guards to form ‘quick reaction forces’ for ‘crowd control’

‘Militarized police force’: Pentagon orders states’ national guards to form ‘quick reaction forces’ for ‘crowd control’

The Guardian reports: A top US military official has ordered the national guards of all 50 US states, the District of Columbia and US territories to form “quick reaction forces” trained in “riot control”, including use of batons, body shields, Tasers and pepper spray, according to an internal Pentagon directive reviewed by the Guardian. The memo, signed on 8 October by Maj Gen Ronald Burkett, the director of operations for the Pentagon’s national guard bureau, sets thresholds for the size…

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ICE’s forced face scans to verify citizens is unconstitutional, say lawmakers

ICE’s forced face scans to verify citizens is unconstitutional, say lawmakers

Ars Technica reports: Social media videos have confirmed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers patrolling US streets are actively using facial recognition technology to verify citizenship, 404 Media reported. In one video posted on a Chicago-based Instagram account, a self-described teenager and US citizen tells officers that he has no government ID. After he offers to show his student ID instead, the officer turns to another and asks, “can you do facial?” As…

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ICE agent assaults woman who asked if he’s a good Christian

ICE agent assaults woman who asked if he’s a good Christian

  HuffPost reports: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers forcibly detained a father and his two children in southwest Colorado on Monday while they were on their way to middle school, sparking a mass protest outside the agency’s Durango field office in an effort to get the kids released back to their mom. Video from the protest outside the facility shows masked and unidentified federal officers tear-gassing protesters on Tuesday afternoon as they stood in the street and attempted to…

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FBI says Gabbard counterintelligence push would cause ‘long-lasting damage to the U.S. national security’

FBI says Gabbard counterintelligence push would cause ‘long-lasting damage to the U.S. national security’

The New York Times reports: The F.B.I. informed Congress last week that it “strongly” opposed a proposal to make the Office of the Director of National Intelligence the lead counterintelligence agency for the federal government, bringing into public view a rift among top national security officials. The disclosure, made in a pointed and unusual letter obtained by The New York Times, underscored the broader concern at other agencies, including the F.B.I., over a House bill that would empower Tulsi Gabbard,…

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Judge rules LA’s top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, was illegally appointed

Judge rules LA’s top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, was illegally appointed

Politico reports: The Justice Department’s top prosecutor in Los Angeles has been illegally serving in the role since July, a federal judge ruled Tuesday. Bill Essayli, Trump’s pick in April to temporarily lead the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, should have departed the post by July 31 under a 120-day limit imposed by federal law, U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright concluded. An unusual maneuver by Attorney General Pam Bondi to extend Essayli’s tenure into 2026…

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Zohran Mamdani: Are we ready to say goodbye to Islamophobia?

Zohran Mamdani: Are we ready to say goodbye to Islamophobia?

  The New York Times reports: In the waning days of the New York City mayor’s race, Zohran Mamdani, the front-runner, has faced attacks that he and other Democrats characterize as an Islamophobic-driven effort to paint him as a foreigner and threat to New Yorkers. Mr. Mamdani, in an emotional 10-minute address on Friday, condemned the attacks, emphasizing his Muslim faith and demanding an end to the divisiveness. “For as long as we have lived, we have known that no…

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‘No restrictions’ and a secret ‘wink’: Inside Israel’s deal with Google, Amazon

‘No restrictions’ and a secret ‘wink’: Inside Israel’s deal with Google, Amazon

+972 Magazine reports: In 2021, Google and Amazon signed a $1.2 billion contract with the Israeli government to provide it with advanced cloud computing and AI services — tools that were used during Israel’s two-year onslaught on the Gaza Strip. Details of the lucrative contract, known as Project Nimbus, were kept under wraps. But an investigation by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian can now reveal that Google and Amazon submitted to highly unorthodox “controls” that Israel inserted into…

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Trump’s plan to subvert the 2026 midterms is already under way

Trump’s plan to subvert the 2026 midterms is already under way

David A. Graham writes: Imagine for a moment that it’s late on Election Day, November 3, 2026. Republicans have kept their majority in the Senate, but too many House races are still uncalled to tell who has won that chamber. Control seems like it will come down to two districts in Maricopa County, Arizona. ICE agents and National Guardsmen have been deployed there since that summer, ostensibly in response to criminal immigrants, though crime has been dropping for several years….

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Judge Michael Luttig: Only the American people have the power to stop Trump

Judge Michael Luttig: Only the American people have the power to stop Trump

Judge J. Michael Luttig writes: Donald Trump is clearly willing to subvert an election in order to hold on to the power he so craves, and he is now fully enabled to undermine national elections. No one can prevent him from remaining president of the United States for a constitutionally prohibited third term—except the American people, in whom ultimate power resides under the Constitution of the United States. On July 4, 1776, nearly 250 years ago, America freed itself forever…

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Judge orders Bovino not to terrorize children on Halloween and orders him to report to her court daily

Judge orders Bovino not to terrorize children on Halloween and orders him to report to her court daily

Chicago Sun-Times reports: U.S. Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino appeared at Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Tuesday for a preliminary injunction hearing as part of an ongoing lawsuit over the feds’ treatment of protesters during the ongoing immigration blitz. Bovino agreed to return to U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis courtroom every weekday at 6 p.m. to give her updates until a Nov. 5 preliminary hearing on the case. Mayor Brandon Johnson called U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino a “barbaric…

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40 million Americans are about to lose food stamps

40 million Americans are about to lose food stamps

Paul Krugman writes: Here are four things you should know about the imminent hunger games. This is a political decision — specifically, a Republican decision Despite the government shutdown, the SNAP program isn’t out of money. In fact, it has $5 billion in contingency funds, intended as a reserve to be tapped in emergencies. And if the imminent cutoff of crucial food aid for 40 million people isn’t an emergency, what is? The Department of Agriculture, which runs the program,…

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