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Survivor of war-ravaged, bike-riding hell-hole of Portland
Further

Hezbollah and MS-13 'R Us, Naked On Bikes In Frog Ears

Despite court losses, public antipathy, ridicule, a shutdown they ignore, the nascent police state lurches on with its daft apocalyptic narrative of an America in flames. Their victims include brown parents torn from kids, a minister shot, an 87-year-old veteran tackled, a beloved Black school official. Each time, their allies plead for "radical empathy." Each time, ICE declines, stonily citing "public safety." Joseph Goebbels: "It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition (that) a square is in fact a circle."

In another up-is-down, whitewashing moment, on Monday the regime marked "Columbus Day," thus reclaiming from "the ashes of left wing arsonists" the explorer's noble, white Christian nationalist legacy of "faith, courage, perseverance and virtue" - not Indigenous Peoples Day's theft, exploitation and genocide of almost 100 million Native people - to celebrate "the triumph of Western civilization, such as it is. In its name, Trump continues waging his war on free speech, political opposition, constitutionally protected rights, brown people and anyone who disagrees with him in ongoing efforts to become the man-child king of an authoritarian hell-hole most Americans don't want.

While Trump has declared eight national emergencies to justify his draconian powers, courts are largely holding the line, or at least a standoff, against the insanity. In Oregon, a three-judge panel ruled 200 National Guard troops called up can remain federalized but can't yet be deployed in Portland. In Chicago, a judge temporarily blocked deployment of 500 National Guard from Texas already in nearby Elwood; a judge also banned ICE agents from using "riot control weapons" against protesters there. On Tuesday, a Rhode Island judge slammed the government for defying an order banning them from withholding FEMA funds from states that won't cooperate with ICE crackdowns, calling them out for "a ham-handed attempt to bully."

How far the regime will go to defy court orders may depend on vengeful Nazi mastermind Goebbels/Miller, who calls every court decision they lose "legal insurrection"; his heartbroken relatives, in turn, call him "the face of evil." The ever-seething Miller describes protests as "domestic terrorist sedition" and the use of troops against them as "an absolute necessity to defend (our) government, public order and the Republic itself." Last week, saying the quiet part out loud, Miller lied the president has "plenary” or absolute power under Title 10 of the US Code; then he blinked and glitched out, reflecting what experts call "cognitive overload" in the "reptilian" brain, often when mistakenly saying something damning.

When not freezing, he furiously sputters out attacks on a "campaign of terrorism (that) will be brought down" by his righteous mission "to dismantle terrorism and terror networks." At Charlie Kirk's memorial/rally, Miller thundered, "We are the storm" in a demonic, Nazi-esque speech that posited "them" - "You are nothing. You have nothing. You are wickedness, you are jealousy, you are envy, you are hatred...Our enemies cannot comprehend our strength, our determination, our resolve'" - against "us": "Our lineage and our legacy hails back to Athens, to Philadelphia...Our ancestors built the cities...built the industry. We stand for what is good, what is virtuous, what is noble.”

Last week, trying to maintain momentum in the face of enduring resistance, Trump called an "Antifa Roundtable" - in fact a rectangle - to follow his declaration of Antifa as a "domestic terrorist organization" 'cause he still doesn't get it's neither terrorist nor an organization, but simply anyone anti-fascist. Gathering flunkies and far-right influencers to help, per one headline, "Protect Americans From Dancing Unicorns," they repeated like an incantation the notion of "terrorism" and "insurrection" to make it so. In rhetoric echoing Press Barbie's vow Trump will "end the Radical Left’s reign of terror in Portland once and for all," a press release referenced an imaginary "Antifa-led hellfire" and "a wasteland of firebombs, beatings, and brazen attacks."

Trump opened the meeting declaring, "The epidemic of Antifa-inspired terror has been escalating for nearly a decade." He claimed “paid anarchists” want to "destroy our country," and "many people" have died in leftist violence; the correct number is one, in 2020, followed by three deaths on the left. He raved about "flag-burning mobs," "degenerates" and, without irony, "people that want to overthrow government" before occasionally nodding off, Everyone agreed with him about everything. "This is not activism, it's anarchy," intoned Pam Bondi before vowing to take "the same approach" to Antifa as to drug cartels: "We're going to take them apart," and then presumably, summarily kill them from above?

A suitably icy ICE Barbie vowed to "eliminate Antifa from existence." "They are just as sophisticated as MS-13, as TDA (Tren de Aragua]), as Isis, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, all of them," she said. They are just as dangerous. They have an agenda to destroy us." Despite that peril, she later bravely ventured to war-torn Portland, where protests cover about a block of its 135 square miles. There, MAGA podcaster Benny Johnson gushed, she survived mean signs - "Molotovs Melt Ice" - and, from a rooftop, "stared down an Antifa army," aka a few protesters/enemy combatants and a guy in a chicken costume. Also in her entourage was a (pardoned) Jan. 6 rioter who'd just texted a friend, “We need a war, bro."

At a Cabinet meeting later that week, Noem claimed city, state and police officials - "all lying, disingenuous, dishonest people!" - were "absolutely covering up the terrorism hitting their streets" because otherwise why was the city so quiet? Sen Ron Wyden: "Thoughts and prayers to Cosplay Cop Kristi who had to endure the dogs, farmers' markets, capybaras (at Debbie Dolittle's Petting Zoo") and marathon runners of Portland." Wrote Portland City Council member Angelita Morillo: "I never thought renowned puppy-killer Kristi Noem would be so afraid of protesters wearing frog costumes, but here we are...There is no terrorism happening here. I think that they are just a very scared people."

To the press later, Trump praised Noem and promised to punish people who create mean signs. In one hilarious, terrifying moment, he was asked if, given all the terrorism, he'd given more thought to suspending habeas corpus, the constitutional protection from unlawful detention. "Uh, suspending who?" he asked. "Habeas corpus." "I dunno," he said. "I’d rather leave that to Kristi - what do you think?” Kristi: "Umm..." George Conway: "President Non Compos Mentis has no idea what the writ of habeas corpus is.” Still, Trump yammered, Portland is "a burning hellhole...You don’t even have stores anymore. They don’t put glass up. They put plywood. Every time I look at that place it’s burning down. There are fires all over the place.”

Federal agents face off against an inflatable frog in Portland. Federal agents face off against an inflatable frog in Portland.Photo by Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP via Getty Images

Somehow, despite their noise and power, Americans still aren't buying it. Last week, the White House bragged a video of Noem blaming the shutdown on Dems was “currently playing at every public airport in America." Not: Multiple airports are refusing to play it, citing the Hatch Act and opposing "using public assets for political propaganda. Immigration lawyer Aaron Reichlin-Melnick: "Can you think of a single movie in which there's a government video denouncing its political opponents playing on a loop in public spaces (and) that government was the good guy?” In Chicago store fronts have started displaying signs that read, "ICE do not have consent to enter this business unless they have a valid judicial warrant."

And mockery rejecting the right's ludicrous narrative is rife. "This is JB Pritzker reporting from war-torn Chicago," began one video from the governor. "It’s quite disturbing. The Milwaukee Brewers have come in to attack our Chicago Cubs. I've seen people being forced to eat hot dogs with ketchup. Our deep dish pizza has gone shallow....It’s a challenge to survive here, but there’s no hellscape I’d rather be in." Late-night's Jimmy Kimmel, citing "demonstrators in animal costumes dancing to Farruko’s Pepas," asked viewers in Chicago, Portland, Memphis etc to prove how crimey their cities are by sending in videos:of their own war-ravaged communities under the hashtag #ShowMeYourHellhole.

Memes abound, especially in Portland, where proudly weird residents have embraced the goofy. "Breaking: Antifa founders identified!" (Churchill and FDR). "Boomerfita from the war zone" (boomers/his Land Is Your Land). "The Battle of Voo Doo donuts rages on!" (ICE/donuts). Deadly dance parties (large blow-up animals). Gavin Newsom: "WE FOUND THE PORTLAND WAR ZONE PETE !!" (Ditto.) Tales of brutal brunch lines, soup groups disrupted, an eight-year-old's soccer team clobbered by a gang of bandits. The OG Frog has been joined by a shark, chicken, dolphin, polar bear, alligator, maybe rooster, more frogs - "He's a friend from another pond" - and chants: "Frog, frog, frog."

Sunday also saw an emergency run of Portland's World Naked Bike Ride, a “quintessentially Portland way to protest” that draws up to 10,000 riders each summer. This one, in pouring rain with a die-in mid-ride, drew about 1,000, many in more-than-usual clothes or with clear ponchos over messages on chests and backs - "We're Cold But Not As Cold As ice, No Faux King Way, End Occupation" - and one brave soul playing bagpipes on a unicycle. The mood was jubilant. “Joy is a form of protest,"" said one. Also, "The people are willing to be vulnerable and stand up for something they believe in," and from a tearful 70-year-old, "Damn, this is a good place to live. This city has a beating heart of love and compassion.”

Not so a GOP horrified by the joyful spectacle. Asked where's the limit on "acceptable conduct" by federal agents facing protesters, sanctimonious prig and liar MAGA Mike cited their "abuse by radical leftist activists" before adding "the most threatening thing I've seen" was those giddy bicyclers: "I mean, it's getting really ugly." Go fuck yourself, Mike. He also charged they'd attacked cops (not), with many arrests. About 30 protesters have been arrested since June, with about half accused of "assaults" like spitting, shoving, throwing a water bottle, kicking back a tear gas cannister. Police made no arrests Sunday; ICE agents detained one person - a clarinetist with a protest band - for an unknown "crime."

For things getting "ugly," check out an evil plot, informally dubbed "Freaky Friday," wherein the feds will offer $2,500 bribes to previously tracked, unaccompanied migrant minors over 14 in exchange for them agreeing to be deported to the countries they fled. Advocates denounce the "cruel" notion of coercing vulnerable kids whose funding for legal support has been cut to waive their rights for a cash incentive, or "resettlement support stipend" - especially when they're told that, if they say no, they'll be picked up when they turn 18 by an abusive force of masked, armed federal agents repeatedly found to be the out-of-control aggressors - from smashing windows to people's faces - during arrests.

A so-called federal law enforcement official responds to being filmed. A so-called federal law enforcement official responds to being filmed.Photo from BlueSky

In response, ICE argues they use "objectively reasonable force." Tell it to Rafie Ollah Shouhed, a longtime, 79-year-old car wash owner in California who filed a federal civil rights suit seeking $50 million after ICE thugs stormed his business and body slammed him to the ground so hard he suffered multiple broken bones and a traumatic brain injury when he tried to tell agents grabbing his workers they had papers. He also told them he'd just had heart surgery, but three guys jumped on his back anyway, with one pressing a knee into his neck and telling him, "You don’t fuck with ICE." He was handcuffed, detained, held 12 hours with no care, calls, food or water. Five of his workers were also detained.

There was also the ICE thug at a New York courthouse who brutally threw down Ecuadorian Monica Moreta-Galarza when she tried to stop agents from dragging her husband away from her and her two kids. The guy choked and body-slammed when he didn't step back fast enough from a curb as ordered. The goons roughing up bystanders filming, smashing car windows to drag a guy from his one-month-old, abducting a 27-year-old Colombian during his shift at an Iowa City market though he was mid-asylum-process, he wore an ankle monitor for tracking, and he, his wife, their infant son lived at a Catholic Worker House. The 8 goons who yanked a girl from her car as she screamed, "I'm 15."

There were also the 30 storm-troopers in riot gear who blocked a Portland ambulance from leaving with an injured protester as they argued about one riding with them in the ambulance, which isn't allowed; when the driver put the ambulance in park and it moved a few inches, one goon got in his face and screamed, "DON’T YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, I WILL SHOOT YOU." And there was the sad, strange story of Dr. Ian Roberts, the Black, beloved, charismatic Des Moines school superintendent, "tremendous advocate," "trusted partner (who) showed up in ways big and small for students" and former Olympic runner from Guyana arrested by ICE for being just another "criminal illegal alien.”

At first, the community rallied around him, praising his "leadership, empathy and responsiveness," fondly remembering his running against kids, usually in a dapper, three-piece suit, so they could boast, "I raced an Olympian." "His contributions are immeasurable," they said, "and we stand with him." But soon a labrythian history emerged of weapons charges, dubious claims of prestigious degrees, visas granted and denied. Officials faced questions about hiring practices, teachers and parents struggled to explain his absence to kids, especially Black ones, and many wrestled with "a dark and unsettling time in our country." For ICE, his arrest was a simple "wake-up call for communities to the great work our officers are doing (to) remove public safety threats.”

Former Olympic runner and school superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts races some of his kids. Former Olympic runner and school superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts races some of his kids. Photo from Des Moines school system

ICE's "great work" was also evident last month as Rev. David Black of Chicago's First Presbyterian Church stood in front of the Broadview detention facility, praying in his clerical collar, when heavily armed ICE agents on the roof fired pepper balls that struck him in the head; as he hit the ground, he could hear them laughing. At another Broadview protest, Black along with many others was also tased in the face, shoved to the ground and detained. He is one of dozens of faith leaders who've been shot multiple times with pepper bullets from ICE - "They are unhinged," says one Methodist - and have filed lawsuits challenging ICE policies and their treatment under the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Faith leaders and activists, while denouncing ICE actions as "domestic terror," remain a visible presence at protests, often bearing signs that read, “Who would Jesus deport?" and "Love your neighbor, love your God, save your soul and quit your job." Black, too, keeps returning to "shout down these gates of hell"; above all, he praises "the unbelievably heroic people standing with me...proclaiming liberation in the face of evil itself." By rote, even facing off against clergy, that evil is steadfast: DHS goon Tricia McLaughlin calls the protesters “rioters” who assault agents, throw tear gas or rocks, and "endanger the safety of brave law enforcement officers and illegal aliens inside the facility.” God save her soul.

David Black gets repeatedly tased in the face at Broadview detention facility. David Black gets repeatedly tased in the face at Broadview detention facility.Photo by Ashlee Rezin of the Chicago Sun-Times.

The police state shows no more mercy to veterans, another group often turning up to protest the state of the country they risked their lives to defend, arguing "the basic freedoms we once swore to protect are under attack." They range from the famed Subway sandwich hurler in D.C. to a disabled 87-year-old arrested after he and his walker traveled from an assisted living facility in Florida to protest Trump's military parade in D.C. Veteran critics - most citizens, many brown - say they see "a pattern of state-sanctioned abuse" by ICE, along with ill-trained, reckless, "trigger-happy" agents who would be removed from a front line and court-martialed for their violence. So much for the highest male standard.

Their victims include a 70-year-old Air Force veteran charged with assault after he "made physical contact" with an agent's arm at Broadview; a 35-year-old Marine vet and infantryman in Afghanistan shot with rubber bullets, tackled by thugs and arrested at Broadview; a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan, protested in Portland, got his face slammed to the ground by goons snarling, “You’re not talking shit anymore, are you?" and is suing for $150,000 after being hospitalized. ICE said he "used fake blood to falsify injuries" and "perpetuated and encouraged violence.” ICE should know. No wonder a new American hero on an e-bike was born after he taunted ICE with, "Hey! I'm not a U.S. citizen!" before taking off. "Q: How many out-of-shape, masked ICE agents does it take to kidnap a delivery driver on a bike in downtown Chicago? A: More than these."

- YouTube www.youtube.com

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Jane Goodall
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In Final Message of Hope, Jane Goodall Suggests Blasting Trump and Other Hateful Right-Wingers Into Space

In her final months, renowned conservationist and scientist Jane Goodall secretly sat down for an interview with producers of a newly greenlit show for Netflix—with an agreement in place that the content of the discussion wouldn't be shared publicly until after her death.

The interview turned out to be the first episode of "Famous Last Words," which was released last Friday—two days after Goodall's death at the age of 91.

Goodall used the interview as an opportunity to reflect on her life and work as a groundbreaking primatologist, to send a message of hope to those left on "this beautiful planet Earth," and to unload her deep dissatisfaction with some of the world's most powerful people.

When asked by producer Brad Falchuk whether there was anyone she did not like, Goodall at first did not name names, but said there were "absolutely" people whom she would like to put on one of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's spaceships, "and send them all off to the planet he's sure he's going to discover."

"Would he be one of them?" Falchuk pressed.

Goodall replied that Musk, the world's richest person and a megadonor to US President Donald Trump, would "host" the expedition, with Trump among the passengers.

"And then I would put [Russian President Vladimir Putin] in there and I would put President Xi [Jinping of China]," said Goodall. "I'd certainly put [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu in there and his far-right government. Put them all on that spaceship and send them off."

The interview was filmed amid compounding global crises that are still ongoing—the climate emergency; Western governments' allegiance to and capture by corporations and the ultrarich, including fossil fuel giants that continue to threaten Earth with planet-heating emissions; worsening global inequality; and violent conflicts like Israel's bombardment and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.

But Goodall urged viewers to resist giving in to a feeling of hopelessness, which would cause them to "become apathetic and do nothing."

Describing herself as "somebody sent to this world to try to give people hope in dark times," Goodall warned:

In the dark times that we are living in now, if people don't have hope, we're doomed, and how can we bring little children into this dark world we've created and let them be surrounded by people who have given up? So even if this is the end of humanity as we know it, let's fight to the very end. Let's let the children know that there is hope if they get together.

"Even if it becomes impossible," she said, "for anybody, it's better to go on fighting to the end than to just give up and say, 'Okay.'"

She added that everyone on Earth "has a role to play."

"Your life matters and you are here for a reason," said Goodall. "Every single day you live, you make a difference in the world and you get to choose the difference that you make."

But the message Goodall wished to send to the world "above all," she said, was that "when we're on planet Earth, we are part of Mother Nature."

"We depend on Mother Nature for clean air, for water, for food, for clothing, for everything," she said. "And as we destroy one ecosystem after another, as we create worse climate change, worse loss of diversity, we have to do everything in our power to make the world a better place for the children alive today and for those that will follow."

"Don't give up. There is a future for you," she said. "Do your best while you're still on this beautiful planet Earth that I look down upon from where I am now."

Scientists, climate advocates, and political leaders were among those who shared an outpouring of gratitude and mourning last week when Goodall's death from natural causes was announced.

Goodall's pioneering work with chimpanzees led to greater understanding of the primates, other species, biodiversity, and the need to protect the natural world.

“Jane Goodall was fearless in all things," Falchuk told Variety as the episode was released. "She deeply loved humanity and the natural world. It was clear to me in our conversation that she was approaching her final adventure with the same fearlessness, hope, humor, and joy that she approached everything else in life. She was one of the world’s greatest and most beloved champions of good."

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A combine harvests corn in a field near Jarrettsville, Maryland.
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'Absolute Joke': Big Ag Lobby Wins Again as Trump Admin 'Doubles Down' on Atrazine

A leading US conservation organization blasted the Trump administration on Wednesday for an announcement that "doubles down" on the alleged safety of atrazine, a pesticide widely used in the United States but banned in dozens of other countries due to concerns including birth defects, infertility, and cancer.

During President Donald Trump's first administration, the Center for Biological Diversity was among the groups sounding the alarm after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reauthorized the use of atrazine in 2020. This past March, as part of a case brought by CBD, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to conduct biological opinions on how five pesticides, including atrazine, harm protected species.

The draft opinion for atrazine was released Tuesday by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which concluded that the herbicide often used on corn, sugarcane, and sorghum "does not pose an extinction risk to a single protected animal or plant, despite widespread contamination of the nation's rivers, lakes, and streams," as CBD summarized.

Ripping the announcement as "an absolute joke," Nathan Donley, CBD's environmental health science director, said that "you'd have an easier time convincing me that the government isn't really shut down than persuading me that atrazine isn't putting a single endangered species at risk of extinction."

"Despite rhetoric to the contrary, there is no better friend of atrazine than the Trump administration."

Donley's comments come as Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. face mounting criticism for promising to "Make America Healthy Again" and then releasing a series of reports that critics say offered "half-baked finger-pointing that blames the sick" and "the pesticide industry's talking points."

As The Washington Post reported earlier this week:

In May, the Trump administration's MAHA commission released a report raising questions about the health effects of two commonly used pesticides, glyphosate and atrazine. The report's rhetoric frustrated powerful agriculture groups such as CropLife America and the American Soybean Association, prompting them to launch a concerted lobbying blitz to promote the chemicals farmers rely on to produce large crops, according to interviews with industry officials.

Major trade groups scrambled to meet with White House officials. They urged the commission in a coordinated social media campaign to take a "fact-based approach," and sent letters to key federal departments. A top industry group helped coordinate a visit of Trump officials to a Maryland farm to see farming techniques in action. And in June, an industry lobbyist was appointed to a key position at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Their efforts seemingly paid off. The Trump administration's MAHA strategy document released last month did not call for restrictions on pesticides and instead said the EPA would work to ensure the public is aware of its "robust" review procedures, a marked shift from Kennedy’s past criticism of chemicals as contaminating the nation’s food supply.

"We were heard," Alexandra Dunn, the CEO of pesticide trade group CropLife America, told the Post. "They listened very carefully to a lot of the input that they received over the past months."

The commission's children-focused September report "notably avoids proposing restrictions on commonly used products such as glyphosate and atrazine," the newspaper noted. "The report pledges that the EPA will work with the food and agriculture industries to ensure the public has 'awareness and confidence' in the agency's 'robust review procedures.'"

Real Trump MAHA agenda: performative in face of corporate money:How Big Agriculture got its way in the latest MAHA report.
Alarmed by the 1st MAHA commission report, agriculture industry mobilized to shape next installment. Those efforts seemingly paid off. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

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— John Walke (@johndwalke.bsky.social) October 6, 2025 at 9:31 AM

Lori Ann Burd, CBD's environmental health director, said last month that "the commission's directive for the EPA and Big Ag to coordinate on a PR campaign aimed at convincing Americans that our pesticide regulatory process is robust is frankly insulting."

"The reality is that our pesticide regulatory process is as full of holes as Swiss cheese, and a slick PR campaign can't change that. The US uses a billion pounds of pesticides a year, and about a quarter of that total is pesticides banned in China, Brazil, and the EU," she continued. "If the EPA wants to convince us that our pesticide regulatory process is robust, they should make it robust."

"They should start by actually evaluating whole pesticide formulas and not just active ingredients and not routinely waiving the child safety factor for dangerous pesticides," she added. "And they should immediately ban the worst pesticides, like atrazine and paraquat, that are already banned in dozens of other countries and are imperiling the health of Americans right now."

After the Wednesday announcement, Donley declared that "despite rhetoric to the contrary, there is no better friend of atrazine than the Trump administration."

"Hiding behind the rhetoric of MAHA," he added, "a poison that's likely to keep Americans sick for generations is moving forward full steam."

The Trump administration's atrazine opinion came just a few weeks before the World Health Organization's next review of it. The last review from WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer was in 1999, and at the time IARC said that atrazine was "not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans." The meeting is scheduled for October 28-November 4.

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No Kings Day in Charlotte
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North Carolina GOP Plans to Rig US House Map for Trump

"The General Assembly works for North Carolina, not Donald Trump."

That's how the state's Democratic governor, Josh Stein, responded on Monday after Republican legislative leaders announced plans to vote on redrawing congressional districts for the 2026 midterms to appease the president.

"The Republican leadership in the General Assembly has failed to pass a budget, failed to pay our teachers and law enforcement what they deserve, and failed to fully fund Medicaid," Stein continued. "Now they are failing you, the voters."

"These shameless politicians are abusing their power to take away yours," he added. "I will always fight for you because the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around."

Since Texas Republican lawmakers passed and Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new congressional map gerrymandered for the GOP in August after pressure from Trump, legislators in other states have pursued similar efforts.

Some Democrats in blue states have responded with proposals to draw GOP-held districts out of existence—including California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose redistricting plans are on his state's November ballot.

Newsom was also among the critics calling out North Carolina Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-26) on Monday:

As The Associated Press reported Monday:

North Carolina Republicans already created a map in 2023 that resulted in GOP candidates winning 10 of the state's 14 US House seats in 2024. That division compared to the 7-7 seat split between Democrats and the GOP under the map used in 2022.

Now, only one of the House districts—the 1st District, currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis—is considered a true swing district and could be targeted by the GOP for an 11th seat.

Former Democratic Congressman Wiley Nickel, who did not seek another term in the House of Representatives after the North Carolina GOP redrew the map two years ago, slammed state lawmakers for trying to oust Davis: "I've seen this movie before—and I didn't like the ending. NC Republicans gerrymandered me out of my seat and cost Democrats control of Congress. Now they’re coming for Don Davis. They couldn't beat him at the ballot box, so they're going to cheat. That's not democracy—it's rigging the system."

Rep. Deborah Ross, one of the other three Democrats representing the state in the US House, said Monday that "for multiple election cycles, Republicans in North Carolina have used partisan gerrymandering to silence voters and manipulate their way into office. With this announcement, we have now reached a decisive turning point for our democracy—a moment when the courts and our elected representatives will need to decide whether it's acceptable for Republicans to blatantly rig elections to cement their hold on power."

"The context is critical. North Carolinians from both parties should be alarmed by credible reports that Phil Berger is pursuing redistricting as part of a corrupt bargain to secure a political endorsement from Donald Trump," she continued. "Republicans are waging a war on American voting rights because they know the truth—their policies are unpopular, their candidates are unlikable, and they can't win a majority in Congress without stacking the deck in their favor."

"Now is the time for people of good faith from both parties who care about the future of our democracy to make their voices heard. Will we allow a corrupt deal to go unchallenged? Will we allow power-hungry politicians to select their voters? Or will we stand up for the bedrock American principle that voters should be empowered to select their leaders?" she asked. "I'm committed to fighting for every North Carolinian who is tired of being silenced by Republicans in Raleigh and Washington."

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A coal miner's face is covered in dust
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As Trump Boosts Coal Industry, Black Lung Miners Say They've Been 'Cast Aside to Die'

As the Trump administration moves ahead with a massive bailout for the coal industry as part of its "drill, baby, drill" pro-fossil fuel energy policy, miners suffering from black lung disease and their advocates are set for a Tuesday protest in Washington, DC to draw attention what they say is the government's failure to protect them.

Last month, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced a $625 million investment “to expand and reinvigorate America’s coal industry," despite the sedimentary rock being arguably the worst fossil fuel for both air pollution and the climate amid an ever-worsening planetary emergency. Burning coal for energy is the single largest contributor to planetary heating, accounting for over 40% of worldwide carbon dioxide emissions.

US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said at the time that “beautiful, clean coal will be essential to powering America’s reindustrialization and winning the AI race," as generative artificial intelligence requires stupendous amounts of energy.

“The companies might be getting a handout, but the miners ain’t getting none."

The DOE's announcement followed the Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) blocking of a rule it finalized during the Biden administration to protect coal and other miners from silica dust, prolonged exposure to which causes black lung disease, which is formally called coal worker's pneumoconiosis.

The inhaled coal dust triggers chronic inflammation, causing scarring of lung tissue, reduced lung elasticity, and impaired oxygen flow. Lung and heart failure, infections including pneumonia, lung cancer, and other illnesses cause a slow and painful death. The disease is irreversible and there is no cure. According to the American Lung Association, "an estimated 16% of coal workers are affected" by black lung disease in the US, "and after decades of improvement, the number of cases of black lung disease is on the rise again."

As Trey Pollard of Appalachian Citizens' Law Center explained in an email Monday:

The rule was supposed to go into effect in April 2025. But instead MSHA blocked the rule, blaming mass layoffs at the [National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health] conducted by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The mining industry also took the rule to court, where the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals put an indefinite pause of the rule after the administration failed to oppose the industry’s request. The next court update is scheduled for mid-October, a full six months after the rule’s planned enforcement date.

"Every day of delayed enforcement increases miners’ exposure to silica and their risk of black lung disease," Pollard added. "On October 14, miners, their families, and their supporters will gather in front of the Department of Labor to demand the administration fight to preserve the silica rule and to call for an end to the delays."

TOMORROW: Support miners rallying in DC outside the #USDOL!The longer the Trump admin waits, the more miners will get #blacklung. We must act now. ⛏️✊ Rally info here: loom.ly/xsY-jGE OR watch our instagram livestream w/ @appcitizenslaw.bsky.social

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— The BlueGreen Alliance (@bluegreenalliance.bsky.social) October 13, 2025 at 1:32 PM

The Washington, DC demonstration is being organized by the National Black Lung Association, with support from the United Mine Workers of America, Fayette County Black Lung Association, Kanawha County Black Lung Association, Wyoming County Black Lung Association, Virginia Black Lung Association Chapter 1, Virginia Black Lung Association Chapter 2, the Alliance for Appalachia, Appalachian Voices, Appalachian Citizens’ Law Center, and the BlueGreen Alliance.

“The Trump administration was handed tools to protect black lung and they are doing everything in their power to toss those rules in the trash,” BlueGreen Alliance executive director Jason Walsh told The New York Times' Lisa Friedman Monday.

Friedman interviewed miners suffering from black lung disease who said they felt abandoned by Trump, despite their support being a significant factor in his reelection.

“The companies might be getting a handout, but the miners ain’t getting none,” said 71-year-old National Black Lung Association president and retired miner Gary Hairston, who has been living with the disease since he was in his 40s.

Judith Riffe, whose husband Bernard died in March of complications from black lung disease after more than 40 years of work in West Virginia coal mines, told Friedman she wishes that the Trump administration would fight for miners as vigorously as it does for fossil fuel companies.

“Sure, they talk about how much they care about coal but come down here and look," Riffe said. “They’re mining a lot more now, the coal trucks and everything are running, but there’s no benefits for the coal miners coming in."

“The coal miners have supplied this country with electricity," she added, "and now they’re just cast aside to die.”

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Daily Life In Gaza Amid Hamas-Israel Conflict
News

‘We Must Keep the Pressure On’: Humanitarians Say Ceasefire Doesn't Erase Gaza Genocide

After two years of destruction in the Gaza Strip, Israel signed a ceasefire agreement with Hamas on Thursday that is expected to take effect within the next day. But even as the world reacts with jubilation that the nonstop death and destruction may soon abate, skepticism abounds about whether the agreement will result in a just and lasting peace.

Israel is expected to withdraw troops to an agreed-upon line and to allow an influx of aid into Gaza, along with releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Israeli hostages. Already, signs have emerged that the Israeli government may seek to collapse the fragile agreement, as happened earlier this year.

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, pointed out that within hours after the deal was announced by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Israeli tanks were filmed firing at civilians attempting to return to their homes in Gaza City.

Middle East Eye reported: "Heavy airstrikes and artillery shelling were reported in Gaza City and Khan Younis overnight, according to local media. Israeli quadcopters were also reported to have dropped bombs on civilians in Gaza City. At least nine people were killed in the attacks since dawn, health officials said."

Albanese said: "Just hours after the deal—as in January—Israel shoots at Palestinians waiting to return home. Before any next step, member states must ensure that Israel honors the ceasefire."

Whether the ceasefire will even be finalized remains an open question, as two leading far-right figures in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government—Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir—have come out in opposition to the deal's ratification and suggested that their parties may defect from Netanyahu's government if they don't get their way, which could be enough to collapse his narrow governing majority.

In a video at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound on Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Wednesday, Ben-Gvir said Israel must pursue "full victory in Gaza," a move seen as deeply provocative by the Arab world outside one of Islam's holiest sites, made only more so by his declaration that "we [Jewish Israelis] are the owners of [the] Temple Mount."

In recent months, Ben-Gvir and Smotrich have said this goal of "total victory" includes carrying out the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza so they can be replaced with Israeli settlers.

Even if this ceasefire proves more durable than previous ones, human rights advocates say that simply halting the violence is not enough.

"We can breathe again, in relief for the end of the daily killing, the starvation, the human suffering beyond imagination, beyond words," wrote Yoav Shemer-Kunz, the co-founder of European Jews for Palestine in EUObserver. "This much-needed and welcomed ceasefire does not change the simple fact that Israel has just committed a genocide in Gaza."

Over the past two years, more than 10% of Gaza's population has been the casualties of Israeli attacks: At least 67,000 people—including over 20,000 children—have been killed, while at least 169,000 people have been injured, many with life-altering wounds, according to official estimates from the Gaza Health Ministry. Other studies suggest the death toll may be even higher when the effects of disease and starvation are taken into account.

Craig Mokhiber, a former United Nations human rights official, said that while Israel and the US had agreed to end the "military component of [the] genocide... they have not yet ended the food and medical components of the genocide."

Nearly 78% of the buildings, including over 9 in 10 homes, in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, leaving its medical, water, and sanitation infrastructure in ruins.

And as a result of Israel's near-total blockade on humanitarian aid, Gaza is now the center of a historic famine. According to the United Nations-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), nearly a third of the population—641,000 people—is estimated to face catastrophic conditions of hunger, while 1 in 4 children suffers from acute malnutrition.

"A temporary pause or reduction in the scale of attacks and allowing a trickle of humanitarian aid into Gaza is not enough," said Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International.

"There must be a full cessation of hostilities and a total lifting of the blockade," she said. "Israel must allow the unhindered flow of basic supplies, including food, medicine, fuel, and reconstruction material, into all parts of the occupied Gaza Strip, as well as the restoration of essential services, to ensure the survival of a population reeling from starvation, repeated waves of mass forced displacement, and a campaign of annihilation."

Though the deal signed Thursday calls for 400 aid trucks to begin entering the strip each day, marking a massive surge from previous levels, it is still fewer than the 600 per day that were allowed to enter during January's ceasefire, which occurred when starvation was at a less critical point.

Though the ceasefire will require the withdrawal of some troops, Israel has said it will still control 53% of the Gaza Strip after it goes into effect and the prisoner exchange ends.

"This fragile ceasefire must be the beginning of a sustained and principled effort that leads to ending Israel's unlawful occupation and blockade," said Oxfam International. "It must be focused on restoring rights and rebuilding lives. Any political or reconstruction plan must not entrench the occupation or further undermine Palestinian sovereignty."

Others emphasized the importance not just of remedies to the suffering of Palestinians, but legal accountability for those in Israel's government, including Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for whom the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for crimes against humanity.

"The current plan—the so-called 'Trump peace plan'—falls woefully short in this," said Callamard. "It fails to demand justice and reparations for victims of atrocity crimes or accountability for perpetrators. Stopping the cycle of suffering and atrocities requires an end to longstanding impunity at the heart of recurring violations in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. States must uphold their obligations under international law to bring to justice those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide."

Mokhiber said: "We must keep the pressure on until all perpetrators and complicit actors are held accountable for the genocide, the apartheid regime is dismantled, and Palestine is free."

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