United States | News & Politics

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/47048405

https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01743628.pdf

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/25965

Departure comes days after newspaper laid off nearly one-third of staff, including more than 300 journalists

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/42820629

The letter states that members can review the documents in person, provided they give the DOJ 24 hours’ notice. The option at this point is only available to members of Congress — and not their staff. They may take notes but can’t bring in any electronic devices, the letter said.

The review will only be of the 3 million files currently available to the public, not the extensive trove of more than 6 million documents in total that the DOJ says it has in its possession.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/33886071

Off the coast of Cape Cod, the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument is a unique stretch of ocean that had been protected for a decade.

Image text:

DENY MANMADE CLIMATE CHANGE. DENY AMERICAN INTERVENTIONISM. THEN ACT SHOCKED WHEN IMMIGRANTS LEAVE LAND OUR COUNTRY DESTABILIZED, TO WORK LAND OUR COUNTRY TOOK FROM OTHER PEOPLE

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/42828048

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/42814877

Thousands of active-duty military personnel may have been “pressured” into seeing the Melania documentary at cinemas around the country, a watchdog has warned.

The $75 million Amazon film opened last week to $7 million at the box office—despite universally terrible reviews.

According to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, those numbers have been artificially inflated by pressure from MAGA-aligned officers leaning on their troops to buy tickets.

“People are scared,” Mikey Weinstein, president and founder of the MRFF, said. Weinstein said he has received letters from members of the U.S. military at eight facilities worldwide, complaining that their superiors encouraged or pressured them to see the film.

“Nobody that I know wanted to go except for those that did not want to get jacked up by our unit commander for not attending,” one of those members told Weinstein in a letter seen by journalist Jonathan Larsen.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/42813965

Democracy experts say there is little doubt about president’s desire to interfere in elections this November

Donald Trump set off alarm bells earlier this week with comments that his administration should “take over the voting” in some states in the run-up to the 2026 midterms, which followed an unprecedented FBI raid on an election office in Georgia.

Although election experts say it’s clear the president doesn’t have authority over elections, they warn the president’s corrosive rhetoric leaves little doubt about his intent.

For months, the Trump administration has stoked doubts about the integrity of American elections largely through lawsuits designed to create the impression states aren’t doing enough to keep ineligible voters off the rolls. That effort escalated significantly last week when the FBI raided the election office in Fulton county, Georgia and seized ballots, along with other materials, related to the 2020 election. Shortly after the raid, Trump escalated his attack even further, saying the federal government should take over elections.

A surprising twist in a New Jersey primary race showed how questions about Israel continue to roil American politics in unpredictable ways.

Feb. 6, 2026

The group’s allied super PAC spent at least $2.3 million against former Representative Tom Malinowski, who has said that he “would not deny anything Israel needs to defend itself” but left open the possibility of placing limits on aid.

It ran negative ads against him, sending a message that it was willing to punish Democrats seen as insufficiently supportive of Israel. And with the race still uncalled on Friday, Mr. Malinowski was indeed trailing narrowly. But the candidate leading him was not one of the other moderates in the race, but an outspoken critic of Israel: Analilia Mejia, a left-leaning political organizer who has said she believed the country committed genocide in Gaza.

Slightly over 3.6 million births have been reported through birth certificates, or about 24,000 fewer than in 2024. The decline seems to confirm predictions by some experts, who doubted a slight increase in births in 2024 marked the start of an upward trend.

So just as a reminder of the immigration context, which is probably preaching to the choir. It is just infuriating to have such ignorance govern us.

A stable population has to have a total fertility rate (TFR) of about 2.1 per women to remain stable. The TFR in 2024 is 1.599, meaning we are losing population.

Also the US population growth (which is tied to the US economic growth in the long term) has slowed to it's lowest rate since 2021.

So the Republicans are shooting us further in the foot, by reducing our immigrants, who tend to be more innovative, have more national pride, and cost less to the government (as they tend to come pre k12 educated) so are a net economic positive. And also tend to fill labor gaps.

Not saying we should not change our economic model and be more sustainable, but the national debt isn't going to pay itself off if we listen to idiots.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/33884762

Federal prosecutors had a warrant to collect evidence from Ms. Good’s vehicle, but Trump administration leaders said to drop it. About a dozen prosecutors have departed, leaving the Minnesota U.S. attorney’s office in turmoil.

Move will hit Michigan, Illinois, New York and other states with highest levels of lead drinking water pipes the hardest

Federal prosecutors had a warrant to collect evidence from Ms. Good’s vehicle, but Trump administration leaders said to drop it. About a dozen prosecutors have departed, leaving the Minnesota U.S. attorney’s office in turmoil.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7576647

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/25701

Charles Fox
Special to ICT

As the 2026 Winter Olympics open in Italy, the nephew of American hockey pioneer Taffy Abel will ask President Donald Trump to give Abel the Presidential Medal of Freedom — and the official recognition he has long been denied.

The request is the latest in a decades-long effort from nephew George Jones for honoring the Ojibwe athlete, who is widely recognized as the first Indigenous American in the Winter Olympics and the first to break the color barrier in the National Hockey League.

“I think it would be a great thing for Native Americans … not just for our family, but for Native Americans,” Jones told ICT. “It starts to tell some of the untold history of Native Americans.”

More than 100 years ago, Abel was a member of the silver-medal-winning U.S. hockey team in the very first Winter Olympics in 1924, played outdoors in Chamonix, France. He was also the flag-bearer for the United States and recited the Olympic oath for the team.

A Soul on Ice: The quest for recognition after 100 years for hockey great Taffy Abel

While Abel is believed to be the first Native American to participate in the Winter Olympics — and the only Indigenous American to carry the flag in Olympic history — he kept his Ojibwe heritage secret at the time.

Due to his light skin color, Abel racially passed as White during the Olympics and throughout his 333-game career in the National Hockey League, though he is widely believed to have been the first player of color to take the ice.

Abel’s parents began the practice of concealing their race to avoid having their two children taken from them and sent to Indian boarding schools in the early 1900s. His family was multi-racial, with Taffy’s father, John Abel, a White man, originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and his mother, Charlotte Gurnoe Abel, from the Chippewa (Ojibwe) Sault Tribe.

It is likely Able would not have been put on the Olympic team or given the opportunity to play in the NHL if he had disclosed his Ojibwe heritage.

Because of his racial passing, however, the NHL has not recognized his pioneering achievements, despite being on two Stanley-Cup winning teams. While he was sometimes referred to as “Superman with skates” due to his physical play and size, not revealing his heritage by racially passing would be his kryptonite in later getting recognition.

Jones sees his uncle as the “Unseen Warrior” who used a White disguise “because of the deep societal prejudices against Indians in the early 1900s.”

The NHL has not responded to repeated requests from ICT for comment.

New life to an old resolution

The first day of 2026 was almost the last for Jones. He suffered a coronary event, and it is estimated he was dead for approximately 8 minutes before CPR by his wife and defibrillation by paramedics brought the 76-year-old man in Winter Haven, Florida back to life.

The under-14 Soo Lakers hockey team practices on Sept. 29, 2025, at the Taffy Abel Arena on the campus of Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The arena, named for the Ojibwe hockey great, is the only NCAA hockey arena that has more seats (4,000) than the university has students. The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians donated $3 million to the renovation. Credit: Charles Fox/Special to ICT

The near-death event, which Jones described as “transforming,” gave Jones yet another chance to win recognition for his uncle. While campaigning for a Congressional Medal of Honor or induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame requires convincing a large number of individuals to vote in Abel’s favor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom is strictly the decision of the U.S. president.

In the end, it will require one man to convince one man of another man’s achievement.

“So, he’s [President Trump] got an America First policy. Well, why the hell not honor some of the first Americans here, too? That’s my point. They deserve it,” Jones told ICT.  “Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. So, it’s not a foregone conclusion either way, but that’s not going to extinguish my advocacy to be on the right side of history.”

As of January 2025, 673 individuals have been awarded the medal but only six Native Americans — Wilma Mankiller, Suzan Shown Harjo, Eloise Cobell, Billy Frank Jr., Jim Thorpe, and Annie Dodge Wauneka.

The very low percentage of Native honorees, Jones feels, could work in his favor.

‘Errors of omission and silence’

This year also marks the 100th anniversary of the historic moment on Nov. 16, 1926, when Abel stepped onto the ice for the New York Rangers, becoming the first Indigenous American player in the National Hockey League. It was also the opening game in the inaugural season of the New York Rangers.

Clarence “Taffy” Abel, Ojibwe, was the first Indigenous athlete to play in the National Hockey League. He joined the Chicago Blackhawks in 1929 and played until 1934. This photo is from the 1929-1930 hockey season, when he began playing with the team. Credit: Photo courtesy of the Jones Family Collection

But there are numerous factors that work against Jones’ campaign.  Getting recognition for his uncle has often put him at odds with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Trump has a long-standing relationship with Bettman and has praised the hockey commissioner for the “incredible” job he has done. In 2025, Trump appointed Bettman to his President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition.

Jones has never hesitated to speak poorly about Bettman in strong, condemning language and has accused the league of bypassing his uncle through “errors of omission and silence.”

Bettman and other league executives credit Willie O’Ree, the first Black (African-Canadian) player in the NHL, with breaking the league’s color barrier in 1958, proclaiming him the “Jackie Robinson of hockey.” It has been an ongoing point of contention between Jones and the NHL.

To strengthen his cause, Jones hopes to gain the support of the governors of Michigan, New York, Illinois, and Minnesota — the states where Abel played. He is also hoping for grassroots support.

While not reacting specifically to Jones’ campaign, the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians Chairman Austin Lowes responded in an email to ICT.

“Taffy Abel is a hero in our community for being both an Olympian and the first American Indian to also play in the NHL,” Lowes said. “Our Tribe contributed several millions to support the renovations to the Lake Superior State University ice arena in the mid 1990s. In turn, the university named the university ice area the Taffy Abel Arena.  We are very proud of Taffy and support recognition of his accomplishments.”

Jones said he will remain focused on his goal.

“I’m talking about my uncle’s legacy,” he said. “I think his legacy was forgotten.”

The post Winter Olympics bring new push to recognize hockey great Taffy Abel appeared first on ICT.

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The video clip that President Trump posted in a late-night flurry of social media activity caused an unusually strong and public outcry from members of his own party.

This kind of racism was part for the course in Epstein’s circle

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