United States | News & Politics

The Democratic governor, a vocal Trump critic who is pursuing a third term next year as well as a potential 2028 White House bid, also indicated that any effort to redraw Illinois’ congressional districts to counter gerrymandering pushed by the president in GOP-led states may depend on whether Indiana takes action on redistricting.

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The stakes are high: Foreign products have been increasingly linked to outbreaks of foodborne illness. In recent years, FDA investigators have uncovered disturbing lapses in facilities producing food bound for American supermarkets. In Indonesia, cookie factory workers hauled dough in soiled buckets. In China, seafood processors slid crawfish along cracked, stained conveyor belts. Investigators have reported crawling insects, dripping pipes and fake testing data purporting to show food products were pathogen free.

In 2011, Congress — concerned about the different standards of overseas food operations — gave the FDA new authority to hold foreign food producers to the same safety standards as domestic ones. Although the agency’s small team remained unable to visit every overseas facility, inspections rose sharply after the mandate — sometimes doubling or tripling previous rates.

Now, the U.S. is on track to have the fewest inspections on record since 2011, except during the global pandemic.

Fewer inspections have taken place than at any time since 2011, excluding 2020 to 2022, when inspections slowed significantly because of the coronavirus pandemic.

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With such limitations, the agency’s inspections have often been reactive instead of proactive. In 2023, for example, FDA investigators did not descend on a Mexican strawberry farm until about 20 people had been hospitalized with hepatitis A, a highly contagious infection that causes liver inflammation and, in some cases, liver failure and death.

Hepatitis A is spread through the consumption of small or even microscopic bits of feces. Farm workers can shed the virus when picking fruit, or it can be transmitted through contaminated water.

At the Mexican berry farm, federal investigators found significant safety violations, including sanitation facilities with hand-washing water that was dirty, gray and leaking throughout the growing area; one toilet offered no ability to wash one’s hands. The FDA censured the company, citing 11 violations of American food safety regulations. According to public data, the agency did not reinspect the farm to ensure it had made corrections even as its products kept entering the United States.

I don't know how to feel about this ...

Republicans say funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, benefits -- formerly known as food stamps -- will run out on Nov. 1 due to the federal government shutdown, and there's nothing they can do about it. Democrats say there's a contingency fund that could and should continue to fund regular SNAP benefits.

None of this, however, was inevitable. The result of these elections was not merely a “thermostatic” backlash to the president. First, because the swings were larger than on average (16 points in VA since 2021, e.g.; 9 versus 2024). And second, because of the changing issue landscape powering Democrats’ victory. Voters said they punished Republicans for Trump’s policies on the economy, health care, and immigration. More said they were voting against him than voting for either party’s nominees for governor, according to the exits.

Instead, the best explanation for 2025 is that voters didn’t know what they were getting with Trump 2.0 last November, but now they do — and they don’t like it. 

The following analysis of results and the exit polls explores seven stories hiding in the Democrats’ rosy performance. Charts of results show the scale of the Democratic victories. The exits show that voters prioritized affordability and the economy, and acted on their near-historic disapproval of the president. That combination powered wins across key geographies and demographic groups, blunting GOP efforts to fight on immigration, transgender kids, and crime. In Virginia and New Jersey, “economy‑first” voters sided with the Democratic gubernatorial candidates by a 65-35 margin — a sharp reversal from 2024, when economy‑focused voters broke roughly 80–20 for Trump. 

Oh, and I’ll take a deeper look at the polls, which erred by about the same amount this year as they did in 2024, but in the opposite direction.

The faux “party of free speech” strikes again. For years, the MAGA GOP has insisted that it is the true “party of free” speech even as all evidence suggests this administration is the most censorial and the most dismissive of the First Amendment in modern history. Over and over and over and over and over and over and over again we see the Trump administration engaging in blatant and obvious speech suppression.

Excess funds from the school meals program would be redirected toward the state-managed SNAP program.

Billionaire hedge fund CEO Bill Ackman dumped nearly $2 million into stopping Zohran Mamdani from becoming NYC's next mayor, portraying him as a "dangerous" supporter of "terrorism." Hours after Mamdani's win, Ackman offered his congratulations and help.

How a 34-year-old became the next mayor of New York City

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane crashed about 5:15 p.m. as it was departing for Honolulu from Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport.

Another article from the AP on it: https://apnews.com/article/ups-cargo-plane-explosion-louisville-deaths-af12da7f8611bad0bf0cb664de189250

The Golden State ballot measure cancels out Republicans' Texas gerrymander.

President Donald Trump is nominating Jared Isaacman to serve as his NASA administrator after all.

To implement his sweeping agenda, Zohran Mamdani will have to navigate the New York Police Department and its influential union.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://theintercept.com/2025/11/05/zohran-mamdani-mayor-police-reform-nypd/

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/38345975

Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York City on Tuesday, capping a stunning ascent for the 34-year-old state lawmaker, who was set to become the city’s most liberal mayor in generations.

In a victory for the Democratic party’s progressive wing, Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani must now navigate the unending demands of America’s biggest city and deliver on ambitious — skeptics say unrealistic — campaign promises.

With the victory, the democratic socialist will etch his place in history as the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first of South Asian heritage and the first born in Africa. He will also become the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century when he takes office on Jan. 1.