United States | News & Politics

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/38483025

by Stefanie Fox [Executive Director of JVP Jewish Voice For Peace in USA]
Oct 20, 2025

One year ago, the Heritage Foundation released Project Esther, which is best understood as an addendum to Project 2025. It was released quietly, but with ambitious tactics; it contains everything needed to defame, defund, and ultimately dismantle groups like JVP “within 12-24 months.” This is the Trump administration’s blueprint to destroy civil society, starting with attacking Palestine solidarity.

Twelve months in, and they are well underway, judging by the giant stack of paperwork on my desk from JVP’s lawyers laying out the active lawsuits brought against our organization from Trump-aligned law firms and government requests for information...

Zohran Mamdani looks poised to become mayor of the most important city in the world tomorrow, despite the New York Times (and other major media) doing its best to smother his campaign in its crib.

https://archive.ph/CVFBm

Source

By Salim Lamrani
November 1, 2025

Unanimously condemned by the international community every year since 1992, this state of siege seriously affects the well-being of the entire Cuban population—particularly the most vulnerable—and remains the main obstacle to the country's development. From March 2024 to February 2025, US economic sanctions cost Cuba $7.55 billion—a 50 percent increase compared to the previous year—representing more than $20 million per day and nearly $15,000 per minute.

That amount is equivalent to the electricity consumption of Cuba's 10 million inhabitants for six years. With the same sum, Cuba could fill every household's grocery basket for six years, cover the nation's medical needs for 22 years, or guarantee public transportation for the next six decades.

Most buyers sourcing squid from vessels accused of crew abuse and deaths are based in North America — nearly half in the US and one-third in Canada.

[...]

Consumers of these squid in the US are “eating a product that may have been caught by somebody in force, bonded or slave labor,” Steve Trent, CEO and founder of the Environmental Justice Foundation, tells Sentient.

In an episode of the Bg2 Pod that was posted on Friday, host Brad Gerstner, who is also the founder of Altimeter Capital, asked how the company could make financial commitments totaling $1.4 trillion when annual revenue is reportedly $13 billion.

“We're doing well more revenue than that,” Altman replied.

OpenAI has announced massive AI infrastructure deals in recent weeks with companies like Nvidia, Broadcom and Oracle. That's as other so-called AI hyperscalers like Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, and top OpenAI investor Microsoft are collectively totaling hundreds of trillions of dollars a year in capital expenditures.

A federal judge in Oregon on Sunday barred President Trump's administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, until at least Friday, saying she "found no credible evidence" that protests in the city grew out of control before the president federalized the troops earlier this fall.

The city and state sued in September to block the deployment.

It's the latest development in weeks of legal back-and-forth in Portland, Chicago and other U.S. cities as the Trump administration has moved to federalize and deploy the National Guard in city streets to quell protests.

The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, an appointee of Mr. Trump, followed a three-day trial in which both sides argued over whether protests at the city's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building met the conditions for using the military domestically under federal law.

A pastor was pulled over for looking lost. A 72-year-old was marched out in his bathrobe due to mistaken identity. Memphis’ mayor welcomed the federal law enforcement surge, but some residents say they feel targeted just going about their lives.

This is probably the end of the road, though there's always the Supreme Court. Or a presidential pardon.

Newly-released documents show that Trump has not just been trying to deport people - but trying to erase entire family units from the US

As the Trump administration ramps up its targeting of left-leaning people and groups, the prosecution and harsh sentencing of Casey Goonan may provide a glimpse of things to come.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://www.wired.com/story/an-anarchists-conviction-offers-a-grim-foreshadowing-of-trumps-war-on-the-left/

For months, immigration crackdowns in Southern California have transformed life in Bell Gardens, the majority-Latino suburb where Alo Hurtado lives. Neighbors have been hauled off by masked federal agents. Families have curtailed trips to supermarkets and churches. Many people have stopped going out without their passports, including Mr. Hurtado’s mother, a naturalized citizen.

So when it came time to vote in California’s special election, Mr. Hurtado, 42, decided not to vote by mail, as many in the state do. Instead, he went to a polling place in a landmark park with his Mexican-born parents this week to vote early and in person.

Archive: https://archive.is/HYZ6l

US President Donald Trump has ordered the military to prepare for action in Nigeria to tackle Islamist militant groups, accusing the government of failing to protect Christians.

Trump did not say which killings he was referring to, but claims of a genocide against Nigeria's Christians have been circulating in recent weeks and months in some right-wing US circles.

Groups monitoring violence say there is no evidence to suggest that Christians are being killed more than Muslims in Nigeria, which is roughly evenly divided between followers of the two religions.

Police say an explosion inside a building on the Harvard Medical School campus in Boston early Saturday morning appears to have been an intentional act. No injuries have been reported from the explosion.

Investigators have released photos of two suspects they say were involved in the incident.

The Harvard University Police Department said that just before 3 a.m., an officer was dispatched to the Goldenson Building on Longwood Avenue in Boston for a fire alarm activation.

When the officer arrived to investigate, they saw two people running from the building. The officer tried to stop the two people, but was unable to identify them or prevent them from leaving. Police have since released surveillance photos that show two suspects with their faces covered inside the building. The public is being asked to help identify them.

President Donald Trump's razing of the White House's East Wing to build a ballroom has meant for some awkward moments for news outlets.

States are cracking down on hidden AI, but the tech industry is pushing back

We're Democrats in the House and Senate. We love DEI, transgender for everyone, healthcare for illegals and shutting down the government! We couldn't care less if our military gets paid or Americans' safety.