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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A massive eruption 74,000 years ago affected the whole planet – archaeologists use volcanic glass to figure out how people survived

A massive eruption 74,000 years ago affected the whole planet – archaeologists use volcanic glass to figure out how people survived

Collecting microscopic glass samples at Border Cave in the Lebombo Mountains in South Africa. Katherine Elmes By Jayde N. Hirniak, Arizona State University If you were lucky 74,000 years ago, you would have survived the Toba supereruption, one of the largest catastrophic events that Earth has seen in the past 2.5 million years. While the volcano is located in what’s now Indonesia, living organisms across the entire globe were potentially affected. As an archaeologist who specializes in studying volcanic eruptions…

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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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The surprising recovery of once-rare birds

The surprising recovery of once-rare birds

Sandhill cranes can be spotted in many states, but in the 1930s their populations had crashed to a few dozen breeding pairs in the eastern U.S. Rsocol/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY By Tom Langen, Clarkson University When I started bird-watching as a teenager, a few years after the first Earth Day in 1970, several species that once thrived in my region were nowhere to be found. Some, like the passenger pigeon, were extinct. Others had retreated to more remote, wild areas…

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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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