Dozens of civil rights and advocacy groups are urging Congress to scrap a defense bill provision that would deepen U.S.-Israeli military technology ties, according to a letter seen by Reuters, at a time of growing U.S. skepticism toward the longtime ally.
Wyoming's attorney general is investigating how two U.S. Department of Justice officials monitored poll workers and observed voters in the state's most populous county during the Aug. 18 primary, a spokesperson for Republican Gov. Mark Gordon said Friday. read more
Not long ago, I rented an SUV from a well-known car rental company. Within hours of an employee scanning my driver's license, a high-resolution scan of my ID was available for sale on the dark web.
The US homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, on Tuesday said that federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers could be deployed to polling sites across the country. read more
"This is a pattern, not a slip," Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement. "RFK Jr. has lied to the Senate, lied to the American people, and jeopardized the health of children to advance his anti-vaccine agenda." read more
Related ...
As US agriculture wilts under financial pressure, former Arkansas farmer cultivates US Senate bid
www.reuters.com
... A decade ago, Hallie Shoffner quit a career in non-profits to help her aging parents run the family farm. For more than a century, their land had endured droughts and floods, booms and busts, the shift from traditional farming to the mechanized, high-tech planting of rice, soy and other commodities that now dominate American agriculture. ...
... then Pres Trump came along ...
... At first, Shoffner thrived, proud to continue tilling their fertile soil on the western fringe of the Mississippi Delta. Last year, however, she came to a difficult, if unavoidable conclusion: The business, beset by increasingly high costs and vanishing profit margins, could no longer survive. She sold machinery, tools " nearly everything but the land and homestead built by her great-granduncle in 1901. ...
He also said that data centers don't use water.
Lutnick claims that data centers, known for water consumption, 'don't use water'
thehill.com
... Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick claimed Wednesday that data centers "don't use water" despite the facilities' significant water usage raising concerns for communities that may host them.
In an interview with CNBC, Lutnick said, "One of my favorite things is when people talk about data centers using water. The No. 1 product in America that uses water is cattle."
"I mean, data centers don't use water," he added. "This is propaganda by our adversaries to try to slow us down."
Update ...
Federal judge blocks Trump's latest order limiting birthright citizenship
www.nbcnews.com
... A federal judge reinforced the constitutional right to birthright citizenship Wednesday, blocking President Donald Trump's latest executive order to limit it.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman wrote in a 35-page ruling that Trump's August order seeking to limit which people born in the U.S. can become American citizens "is almost certainly unconstitutional." ...
Related ...
World's unusually high U.S. dollar exposure risks fuelling selloff
financialpost.com
... Sift through the filings of pension funds and insurers around the world and one thing stands out: some of the biggest holders of United States assets have little protection against a weaker dollar, leaving the currency at risk of steeper declines if sentiment suddenly turns.
Across markets including Japan, Canada and Taiwan, these investors hedged just 41 per cent of their foreign-currency exposure as of June 30 " the lowest since at least 2015 " according to Bloomberg calculations using data from six markets where such figures are available. While not a complete picture, it offers a glimpse into how the sudden rush last year to hedge against dollar losses triggered by President Donald Trump's global tariff rollout has faded as the U.S. currency slowly stabilized.
In cutting back their hedges, investors are returning to an approach that had worked for much of the past decade. The dollar tended to rise, or at least hold up, when markets turned volatile, cushioning losses on U.S. stocks and bonds when they're converted back into investors' home currencies. And with hedging expensive, there was little incentive to pay for protection.
The risk now is that two pillars underpinning that strategy " high hedging costs and the dollar's haven status " are being challenged at the same time.
The greenback is down about 2.3 per cent this quarter and has weakened against most G10 peers as investors revive the debasement trade, the view that U.S. policies will erode the currency's value. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's moves to support the yen and contain rising U.S. yields have fuelled those concerns, as have doubts over whether Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will raise rates to curb inflation amid Trump's push for lower borrowing costs. ...
Related ...
Government borrowing costs rise anew, adding to pressure on global policymakers
www.reuters.com
... A selloff in global bond markets deepened on Tuesday, reflecting investor angst over inflation and government debt levels that stand to inflict fresh pain on consumers and businesses.
Japan's 10-year yield hit 3% for the first time since 1996 as the rout hit bond prices, driving up yields, in major economies around the globe. Yields hit their highest in 15 years in Germany and their highest since 2008 in the UK. In the U.S., the 10-year yield rose 3.8 basis points to 4.796%, putting it in range of its highest level since 2023.
Some of the world's leading economies, notably the U.S., have sharply increased their debt loads in recent years through deficit spending, with the U.S. debt hitting $40 trillion -- a shift investors warn is likely structural rather than episodic and will be difficult to remedy without tough choices at the national level. Meanwhile wars from Russia-Ukraine to the Middle East have sent oil and gas prices higher, adding to pressure on interest rates and the cost of living.
"This is likely primarily a U.S.-specific story, though global currents are amplifying it," said David Krakauer, vice president of portfolio management at Mercer Advisors.
"The core drivers are largely domestic: deficit spending, the cost of servicing a rising debt load, and shifting Treasury auction dynamics," in which price-sensitive buyers such as hedge funds and other private firms have in part supplanted price-insensitive official buyers such as central banks.
Governments are jittery. The U.S. Treasury stepped into markets last month in a bid to cap a rise in borrowing costs, which can spill over to higher loan rates for everything from household mortgages to business loans. Yields on 30-year Treasuries are close to the highest in 19 years. ...
... Mullin said: "ICE isn't there to patrol the polling places. We're there to enforce specific threats." ...
Threats like voters not voting for "the right leaders?"
Noem dismisses criticism of 'right people' voting for 'right leaders' remark (February 2026)
thehill.com
... Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem waved off criticism of recent comments she made about ensuring "we have the right people voting, electing the right leaders to lead this country," calling the remarks "commonsense." ...
Army secretary frequently warned White House about Hegseth before his departure
abcnews.com
... Army Secretary Dan Driscoll's resignation follows a strained relationship with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and repeated warnings to the White House, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, about what has been described as Hegseth's widespread and seemingly indiscriminate firing of senior military officers, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Driscoll also warned the White House about unprecedented efforts by Hegseth to block others from advancing into the military's highest ranks after they had been thoroughly vetted, the sources said. ...
... The widow of an Alabama airman has revealed she and her children are not eligible for some benefits because the Iran war has not officially been declared a war. ...
Well, that's one way for Pres trump to help reduce the deficit.
And it fits right in with his "special strain of internal ugliness" ( drudge.com )
Trump just said he "certainly wouldn't sign" an immigration bill his White House helped write (June 2018)
www.vox.com
... Trump might have torpedoed a bill that even immigration hardliners in his administration like Stephen Miller were trying to pass.
Members of President Trump's White House -- including immigration hardliners like Stephen Miller -- have been hard at work with Republicans in the House of Representatives on crafting a "compromise" immigration bill for the House to vote on next week.
Trump himself may just have torpedoed it. ...
The "more moderate" bill was explicitly designed to adhere to the "four pillars" that Trump mandated in January be a part of any immigration deal: money for the "wall" he wants to build on the US-Mexico border; elimination of the diversity visa lottery; curbing family-based immigration (which the Trump administration refers to as "chain migration"); and a way for the immigrants currently facing the loss of their protections under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to apply for formal legal status in the US.
It also gives the Trump administration what it's been demanding more recently, as it's turned its attention to trying to reduce the number of asylum seekers (especially Central Americans, and especially families) coming into the US without papers: It drastically raises the bar for the initial screening that allows someone to stay in the US and pursue an asylum case; it allows the US to turn back any asylum seeker who's come through Mexico and tell them to seek asylum there instead; and it allows children to be detained indefinitely by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (which the Trump administration claims is the only alternative to separating them from their parents at the border).
As late as Wednesday, the White House was helping Republican leadership sell the deal to conservatives in the House.
Stephen Miller, the biggest immigration hardliner in Trump's White House, went to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to lobby one of the House's most influential conservative caucuses, the Republican Study Committee. ...
@#1 ... They need to own it. ...
Talk to the corporations that hire them.
Talk to the farmers who hire them.
An excerpt from the Border Patrol Union webpage that was deleted during fmr Pres Trump's first term:
web.archive.org
- - - Walls and fences are temporary solutions that focus on the symptom (illegal immigration) rather than the problem (employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens). ...
@#2
That would be my guess also. I put it at around a 70-30 chance.
A couple of reasons ...
1) Pres trump appears to like mining FoxNews for people in his admin (qualified for the task at hand or not, i.e. Sec Defense Hegseth).
2) Ms Bartiromo has a following among the uber-wealthy, i.e., those for whom Pres Trump seems to govern.