The Deep Roots of Deportation

In a divided political climate, many now hold their breath, waiting to see if deportation rhetoric becomes reality.

Texas Observer

What’s at stake for student loan borrowers during the next Trump administration

With much of President Joe Biden’s student loan agenda tied up in court, the incoming Trump administration could have a significant impact on millions of borrowers.

CNN

Revealed: trans rights case at US supreme court features doctors previously discredited by judges

Tennessee relied on doctors rebuked by courts for inexperience and bias to defend its trans healthcare ban

The Guardian

Giving Thanks to the Hands That Feed America: Immigrant Farmworkers

With the approach of Thanksgiving, when many families will be celebrating with food and gratitude, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the people who help make Thanksgiving celebrations possible. Many of the fruits, vegetables, and other staples of our Thanksgiving celebrations are harvested by immigrant farm workers.

Immigration Impact

What Don’t the Democrats Get? Almost Everything.

Some commentators expressed bewilderment about the ballot initiatives. How can people vote en masse for abortion rights and a higher minimum wage, and yet vote against the Democratic Party? That’s easy; large majorities of people support those initiatives. And many of them don’t like the Democrats. That’s how it is.

The New Republic

U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas introduces bill to deny transgender identity

Actually, transgender identity is recognized as real by major medical and mental health organizations.

Advocate

Texas Lawmakers Push for New Exceptions to State’s Strict Abortion Ban After the Deaths of Two Women

The new legislation, prompted by ProPublica’s reporting, comes after 111 Texas doctors signed a public letter urging that the ban be changed because it “does not allow us as medical professionals to do our jobs.”

ProPublica

The Right-Wingification of UT

“There’s a great deal of anxiety among faculty, especially in the College of Liberal Arts,” Strong told us. “There is a great deal of pain. We feel that our research and teaching enterprises are under sustained attack.”

Austin Chronicle

Brooklyn Diocese Demotes Monsignor Who Sent Millions to Adams Advisor

A top monsignor in Brooklyn has been relieved of administrative duties at a Williamsburg parish after a diocesan investigation revealed he transferred nearly $2 million of church money to a law firm and other accounts affiliated with a former chief of staff to Mayor Eric Adams.

The City

The last meatpackers in NYC’s Meatpacking District are getting ready to say goodbye

When John Jobbagy’s grandfather immigrated from Budapest in 1900, he joined a throng of European butchers chopping up and shipping off meat in a loud, smelly corner of Manhattan that New Yorkers called the Meatpacking District.

Today only a handful of meatpackers remain, and they’re preparing to say goodbye to a very different neighborhood, known more for its high-end boutiques and expensive restaurants than the industry that gave it its name.

AP News

US universities brace for education policies overhaul under Trump

School initiatives focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion are likely to be first on the chopping block.

AlJazeera

Democrats search for answers as blue Philadelphia turns towards Trump

When Kamala Harris stopped at the west Philadelphia barber shop Philly Cuts just days before the election, its manager, James Browne, said the vice-president came off “almost like a favorite aunt”.

Harris seemed “genuine, kind, nice, very comforting” during the half-hour she spent in the shop while campaigning in the largest city in battleground state Pennsylvania, Browne said. “Meeting her in person was very different than seeing her on TV.”

But when customers would sit down for a cut, he realized their impression of Harris did not match his. “I did get that men did not want to see a woman with that much power. There was a lot of that,” Browne said.

The Guardian

Trump’s vow to use US troops for mass deportations could face intense resistance — starting from within the military

President-elect Donald Trump said this week that his incoming administration plans to follow through on his campaign promise of using the US military to execute his mass deportation plan.

This puts his incoming administration on a potential collision course with long-standing laws and practices that sharply limit the use of US troops in law enforcement.

Business Insider

What to know about federal employees who telecommute as DOGE looks to end remote work

Forcing all federal workers to return to the office may not save that much money, Brian Riedl, senior fellow at the right-leaning Manhattan Institute, told CNN. Total compensation for federal civilian staffers comes to about $305 billion a year, a little more than 4% of the federal budget. So even cutting a sizeable share of the workforce would only put a tiny dent in spending.

Though he feels some agencies are overstaffed, he pointed out that the federal government has the same number of employees as it did 50 years ago, when it had far fewer programs and duties.

“I don’t think you can just eliminate a quarter or half of federal employees on an ad hoc basis without paralyzing the government,” he said.

CNN

Feeling betrayed by increased minority support for Trump, Black women say they’re stepping back

Harris’ loss spurred a wave of Black women across social media resolving to prioritize themselves, before giving so much to a country that over and over has shown its indifference to their concerns.

AP News

Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans will decimate American innovation

How a nation constructs its immigration policies directly affects its standing on the continuum from “Vibrant” and “Expansive” to “Static” and “Devolving.”

LGBTQ Nation

The Right Has a Bluesky Problem

The number of people departing X indicates that something is shifting, but raw user numbers have never fully captured the point of what the site was. Twitter’s value proposition was that relatively influential people talked to each other on it. In theory, you could log on to Twitter and see a country singer rib a cable-news anchor, billionaires bloviate, artists talk about media theory, historians get into vicious arguments, and celebrities share vaguely interesting minutiae about their lives. More so than anywhere else, you could see the unvarnished thoughts of the relatively powerful and influential. And anyone, even you, could maybe strike up a conversation with such people. As each wave departs X, the site gradually becomes less valuable to those who stay, prompting a cycle that slowly but surely diminishes X’s relevance.

The Atlantic

Venezuelan security forces have surrounded the Argentine embassy, opposition leaders say

Armed and hooded members of the Venezuelan security forces have surrounded Argentina’s embassy in Caracas, according to leaders of the country’s opposition.

Six members of the opposition are currently taking refuge in the embassy, having fled there to escape a crackdown by Venezuelan authorities in the run-up to July’s presidential elections.

CNN

Stolen children return to Guatemala to learn the truth

Around 30,000 children from the Central American country were given up for international adoption between 1977 and 2007. In many cases, the processes were riddled with irregularities and corruption. Some of the children, now grown up, have returned and are helping other people find their biological families

El Pais

Iran Plans Nuclear Talks with European Countries This Week

Iran plans to hold talks about its nuclear program with the UK, France and Germany this week, Kyodo reported on Sunday, citing Iranian diplomatic sources who weren’t identified.

Bloomberg

Haitian vigilantes deal major blow to gang leader ‘Barbecue’ in furious battle

Warlord Jimmy Cherizier’s thugs slaughtered by residents in Port-au-Prince neighbourhood they tried to terrorise

The Telegraph

Several people injured as Hezbollah launches 165 rockets at Israel

Sirens sounded across Israel and multiple people were injured on Sunday in rocket strikes from Lebanon, the Israeli military said, as the Lebanese Army recorded another fatality from an Israeli attack.

dpa International

A photographer’s devastating documentation of El Salvador’s civil war in the 1980s

In the early 1980s, there was a troubling energy to the Cold War political developments in Central America.

Following the left-wing Sandinista rebels’ overthrow of the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza in 1979, the United States bolstered its support for El Salvador’s right-wing military government as a backstop to what the U.S. feared was an ascendant Soviet and Cuban influence and left-wing ideology in Latin America.

NPR

‘Don’t forget us’: Teenage refugee reminds Gen Z of silenced Afghan girls

When Nila Ibrahimi set out to build a website telling the stories of Afghan girls, it wasn’t just to give them a voice.

The 17-year-old Afghan refugee was also determined to remind her fellow Gen Zs in her adopted country, Canada, that they were similar – they even listened to Taylor Swift just like other teenage girls around the world.

BBC

Uruguay runoff election: Voters choosing between leftist, rightwing bloc

Leftist alliance of celebrated former President Jose Mujica hoping to come back to power after five years of right-wing government.

AlJazeera