A GOP push to restrict voting by overseas U.S. citizens continues before 2026 midterms

Some 2.8 million U.S. adult citizens living abroad were eligible to vote in 2022, the latest year for federal estimates. And with turnout for overseas voters long trailing that of domestic voters (3.4% compared to 62.5% in 2022), voting rights advocates fear GOP-led lawsuits and proposals could drive down participation even further.

NPR

It’s time get a flu vaccination. Here’s who needs one and why

October is the ideal month to get protected, experts say, because flu cases typically begin climbing in November.

AP News

Amid Chicago deportation campaign, Trump authorizes 300 National Guard troops over Pritzker’s objections

President Donald Trump’s move comes after Gov. JB Pritzker said earlier this week the Department of Homeland Security requested deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois “for the protection of ICE personnel and facilities.”

WBEZ Chicago

DHS Includes White Supremacist Meme in Video Promoting Deportation Blitz

More recently, the “Mac Tonight” character became popular with far-right activists and neo-Nazis online. In 2019, the Anti Defamation League added “Mac Tonight” to its database of “hate symbols” that the organization said are among the “most frequently used by a variety of white supremacist groups and movements, as well as some other types of hate groups. In its entry on the character, the ADL said that internet users began to display it alongside “violent or racist rap songs” in the 2000s and that, by 2015, it was firmly “associated with alt right language and imagery, including explicit white supremacist imagery.”

Talking Points Memo

Federal tactics on Portland protesters escalate, hours after judge rules against Trump

Outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility, federal officers pushed crowds of protesters hundreds of yards down city streets and fired tear gas, flash-bang grenades and pepper balls without any clear signs of provocation.

OPB

Woman shot multiple times by ICE agents in Chicago, DHS confirms

A U.S. citizen was shot Saturday on Chicago’s South Side after Border Patrol agents said they were “rammed by 10 cars” and became “boxed” in during a confrontation in the Broadview section of the city.

The Independent

Justice Samuel Alito says he is not calling for same-sex marriage ruling to be overturned

Alito wrote the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that rolled back abortion rights. That decision sparked concerns that the conservative majority might also overturn other precedents, including Obergefell.

NBC News

Catholic bishops call immigration crackdown a ‘category 4 storm’

Before the Georgetown roundtable, El Paso Bishop Mark Seitz told RNS he is questioning whether Catholics can, in good conscience, join ICE.

Religion News Service

Some Democrats share Trump’s goal of forcing more homeless people into medical care

“I’m gay, very much a liberal Democrat, but compassion fatigue is a big thing,” he said. “I don’t want to walk on the street [to avoid homeless people]. I want to walk on the sidewalk.”

NPR

With Portland, Trump’s Police State Is Getting Bigger and More Radical

If the National Guard and ICE can run wild, as Trump wants them to, then America is not a free country.

The New Republic

Ford CEO says $2 billion in tariff costs prevents more US investments

If the company wants to manufacture in the US, it has to “import literally thousands of dollars of parts on [the] F-150,” Farley said. Tariffs vary by product and the country of origin, but Ford is paying anywhere between 25% and 70% tariffs on the imported items, which “adds up to $2 billion.”

Yahoo! Finance

White House Responds With ‘Authoritarian Propaganda’ as Judge Blocks National Guard in Portland

A federal judge in Oregon found that the White House’s claims about “war-ravaged” Portland were “untethered to facts,” and that the reality on the ground does not meet the threshold for deploying the National Guard.

Common Dreams

Everything You Need To Know About How The Government Shutdown Will Impact You

The government shutdown does not mean that every agency immediately ceases all operations. Social Security, VA benefits, and Medicare and Medicaid payments will continue, but they could face delays. Per The Associated Press, the Department of Homeland Security (which includes ICE) will continue to operate more or less as normal, as will the Pentagon.

Teen Vogue

At least 5 dead in large-scale nighttime Russian strike on Ukraine

Four people, including a 15-year-old, died in a combined drone and missile strike on Lviv, according to regional officials and Ukraine’s emergency service. The historic western city is often seen as a haven from the fighting and destruction further east. At least six more people sustained injuries, according to a statement by Ukraine’s police force.

NPR

ICE and the Israeli Military Are 2 Sides of the Same Coin — We Must Resist Both

Opposing ICE in the US while backing genocide in Gaza is senseless. These struggles are intertwined.

Truthout

It’s Oct. 7 again: Bring the hostages home — every single one | Opinion

This is not just a Jewish or Israeli issue. Indeed, a considerable number of those murdered or kidnapped on Oct. 7 were neither Jewish nor Israeli.

Miami Herald

Mexico’s jaguar numbers rise: conservation sparks a 30 percent increase | The Optimist Daily

The Yucatán peninsula turned out to be jaguar central, with 1,699 spotted, followed by the south Pacific (1,541), northeast and central regions (813), the north Pacific (733), and the central Pacific coast (540).

Optimist Daily

Oct. 7 attacks anniversary: Locals commemorate hostages, mourn Israel-Hamas war victims and hope for peace

As the two-year anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war approaches, its terror and devastation continue to plague those from the Chicago area with close ties to the conflict overseas.

Chicago Tribune

A prominent US family has been cashing in on DRC carbon credits while local communities decry unmet promises

Since 2004, the people of Yafunga have been barred from their land as its ownership swapped from one foreign investment to another — first, in the form of a logging concession through the company Société Africaine de Bois (Safbois), then later into a carbon offsetting project managed by a company called Jadora. Gradually, ownership of both Safbois and Jadora was transferred to an influential family from the US that seemingly owned extensive assets in the DRC.

Global Voices

Why Gen Z protesters worldwide are flying an anime pirate flag

The flag comes from a long-running Japanese anime and manga series called One Piece, about a rag-tag band of pirates dubbed “the straw hats,” who are led by a cheerful character named Monkey D. Luffy and are fighting an oppressive world government.

WFDD

Sarah Mullally named the first female Archbishop of Canterbury

Naming a woman to the position is a major milestone for a church that ordained its first female priests in 1994 and its first female bishop in 2015. Mullally follows 105 men who have led Anglicans worldwide.

Religion News Service

Ukrainians Find Little Clarity From Trump About How War With Russia May End 

Kyiv’s Independence Square has turned into a makeshift memorial for Ukrainians killed in the last three years of war.

Truthout

What to expect as Syria holds first parliamentary elections since Assad’s ouster

Under the 50-year rule of the Assad dynasty, Syria held regular elections in which all Syrian citizens could vote. But in practice, the Assad-led Baath Party always dominated the parliament, and the votes were widely regarded as sham elections.

NPR

The Geography of a U.S.-China War

Conflict over Taiwan would promote escalation in ways U.S.-Soviet tensions in Europe never did.

Lawfare Media

Gen Z protests are shaking Morocco. Here’s what to know

Similar movements have risen in countries such as Madagascar, Kenya, Peru, and Nepal. They differ in origin but share in common a refusal to go through institutions like political parties or unions to be heard.

AP News