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. The county is almost one-third Hispanic or Latino. Voting-rights advocates say the armed presence has depressed turnout, but nonetheless, the races are close.
As the federal government shutdown drags on, the Trump administration has doubled down on a tactic of dubious legality that it has been pursuing since January: cancelling federal funding for already congressionally approved projects in blue cities and states. Back in the summer, the administration pulled $4 billion from the California high speed rail project. It followed up a month later by withdrawing another $175 million from the project.
To understand the threat to democracy, and how it might be stopped, I spoke with experts on election administration, constitutional law, and law enforcement. Many of them are people I have known to be cautious, sober, and not prone to hyperbole. Yet they used words like nightmare and warned that Americans need to be ready for really wild stuff. They described a system under attack and reaching a breaking point.
➡️ Another Republican got busted for sending racist and Nazi-liking texts to colleagues - this time Trump's nominee for the Office of Special Counsel. Meanwhile, a bar in Alabama had its liquor license denied after advertising a drag show, and LGBTQ+ college students in Texas are reporting more harassment and mistreatment under Gov. Greg Abbott's policies. Independent journalist Erin Reed reports on a federal judge ruling in favor of public schools refusing to comply with Trump's trans ban; and we spoke to transgender entertainer Ts Madison who says that the Trump administration should "pack it up."
But even as the youth-including twenty- and thirtysomething podcasters and social media influencers, as well as student members of the late Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA- brought a high-energy vibe, stalwart members got a new assignment. Where past Moms for Liberty attendees were urged to run for school boards, this year they were encouraged to turn their grievances into legal challenges.
We couldn't tell if it was day or night, said one former detainee who spent 10 months at the facility and whom the Guardian is not naming for fear of retaliation from US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) and the Geo Group, the private company that operates the detention center. The lights were on 24/7. We maybe saw the sun twice a week. Windows were coated in dark paint, and people made eye masks with their socks, he recalled.
US Customs and Border Protection implemented a rule this week that will require airlines to disregard X sex markers on passports and input an M or F marker instead, sending those people with an X marker into panic. X markers became available to US passport holders in 2022, in an effort to allow people with gender identities other than male and female to obtain more accurate travel documents.
When a Texas oil company first announced controversial plans to reactivate three drilling rigs off the coast of Santa Barbara County, investor presentations boasted that the venture had "massive resource potential" and was "primed for cash flow generation." But now, less than two years later, mounting legal setbacks and regulatory issues are casting increasing doubt on the project's future. Most recently, the California attorney general filed suit against Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp., accusing it of repeatedly putting "profits over environmental protections."
Things escalated in June, when Trump sent troops to L.A.: Trump said he was responding to "out-of-control" immigration protests when he seized control of the California National Guard from Gov. Gavin Newsom and deployed Guard members - and eventually 700 U.S. Marines - to the nation's second largest city. State and local officials disputed that the protests were beyond their control and quickly sued, asking a court to remove the troops from the streets.
Some business owners in West Berkeley say RV outposts, like this one on Dwight Way, have driven down business. Amber Whitson, who lives in one of the RVs, acknowledged that some troubling folks have come and gone, but said she tries to keep her part of the neighborhood tidy. Credit: Alex N. Gecan/Berkeleyside A Berkeley councilmember wants to make it easier for the city to tow RVs and other large vehicles off local roads, especially if they pose environmental hazards or are blocking roadways.
But the industry sued and, for now, has sidelined the prohibition on advertising to children. The law also required platforms to obtain parental consent when minors signup for service. The age verification mandate forces everyone to share identifying information to prove their age, placing what a federal judge called "severe burdens" on adults, leading to her decision in June to issue a preliminary injunction against enforcement.
This week's dramatic court ruling that Donald Trump's sweeping trade tariffs, which he has used to upend global trade, were in fact illegal is the latest in a series of losses for the president's radical agenda that are ultimately heading for a final showdown in the US supreme court. Trump has already asked the supreme court to overturn the lower court ruling in the tariffs case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They say we don't need them. Freedom. Freedom. He's a dictator. He's a dictator. A lot of people are saying, maybe we'd like a dictator. So the line is that I'm a dictator, but I stopped crime. So a lot of people say, you know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator. (END VIDEO CLIP) MELBER: Do you take it seriously? How would you fight that?
The seven countries are Afghanistan, Haiti, Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal and Cameroon, plunging many TPS holders in those US immigrant communities into confusion and fear and prompting groups of individuals and advocacy organizations to head for the courts to shield them, with varying degrees of success so far. On Wednesday, a federal appeals court sided with the Trump administration and halted, for now, a lower court's order that had kept in place temporary protections for 60,000 migrants from Central America and Nepal.
In a ruling that potentially sets a precedent, Judge James Selna decided that the NCAA's Five-Year Rule governing athletic eligibility is not subject to antitrust laws, dismissing claims from players seeking extended eligibility.
The president attempted for the first time since the Civil War to rewrite the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution in a way that said babies born on U.S. soil were not in fact entitled to the rights and privileges of United States citizenship.
Commissioners Andrew N. Ferguson, Melissa Holyoak and Mark R. Meador said in a statement, "This case, which we inherited from the previous administration, was filed nearly two years ago and has suffered losses in two motions to dismiss." They cited GCU's "victory" over the Department of Education in its bid for nonprofit status, the department rescinding the $37.7 million fine and the Internal Revenue Service confirming GCU's nonprofit designation.
