curated news excerpts & citations
404 Media: ICE and CBP Agents Are Scanning Peoples’ Faces on the Street To Verify Citizenship
Videos on social media show officers from ICE and CBP using facial recognition technology on people in the field. One expert described the practice as “pure dystopian creep.”
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Ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee Bennie G. Thompson said in a statement “Mobile Fortify is a dangerous tool in the hands of ICE, and it puts American citizens at risk of detention and even deportation.” He also said “ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien. ICE using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested is a frightening, repugnant, and unconstitutional attack on Americans’ rights and freedoms.”
(404 Media more…)
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Jennifer Rubin: MAGA Uses Hunger as a Political Weapon
Donald Trump, like autocrats around the globe, is weaponizing food supply. He is prepared to let more than 40 Million Americans go hungry to pressure Democrats to capitulate on the shutdown and accede to his plan to snatch health insurance away from tens of millions of people.
…There is no excuse for shutting off food benefits. Sharon Pratt, a former Office of Management and Budget employee, wrote for the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:
In fact, the Administration is legally required to use contingency reserves — billions of dollars that Congress provided for use when SNAP funding is inadequate that remain available during the shutdown — to fund November benefits for the 1 in 8 Americans who need SNAP to afford their grocery bill.
The Administration itself admits these reserves are available for use. It could have, and should have, taken steps weeks ago to be ready to use these funds. Instead, it may choose not to use them in an effort to gain political advantage.
Moreover, the government has “legal transfer authority — the same authority it already used to provide additional funds to WIC — to supplement the contingency reserves, which by themselves are not enough to fund families’ full benefits.”
Steward Beckham: SNAP, Crackle, Gone
Wired: No, SNAP Benefits Aren’t Mostly Used by Immigrants
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These claims simply do not align with reality, given that the majority of people who receive SNAP benefits are white Americans, according to data collected by the USDA. The data also shows that deep-red states like Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana are among those with the highest percentage of food stamp recipients.Heather Cox Richardson: Letters from an American – October 29, 2025
Today is the twenty-ninth day of the government shutdown, and the House of Representatives is still on break as House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) continues to try to force the Senate to pass the House measure to fund the government without negotiating over the Democrats’ demand for the extension of the premium tax credit without which healthcare premiums will skyrocket.
Yesterday air traffic controllers received their first “zero” paycheck. For weeks, flights have been delayed across the country as air traffic controllers call in sick. Also across the country, states are bracing for food insecurity among the 42 million Americans who depend on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits when those payments don’t go out on time on November 1. The administration maintains it cannot distribute the $6 billion the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) holds in reserve to cover for November 1.
…Despite the growing crisis in the U.S., President Donald J. Trump broke precedent to leave the country during the shutdown. His erratic behavior on that trip has drawn attention. …
…While Trump is out of the country, the White House has made dramatic changes to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Sasha Rogelberg of Fortune reported last week that law enforcement agents from ICE are still getting their paychecks, including overtime, thanks to the injection of an extra $75 billion into ICE’s budget from July’s budget reconciliation bill. …
(Heather Cox Richardson more…)MedCity News: How the Expiration of ACA Tax Credits Will Impact Commercial Insurance, Per a Cigna Exec
The expiration of ACA tax credits could drive up premiums across marketplace and commercial insurance plans, a Cigna executive warned.
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ProPublica: Citing Trump Order on “Biological Truth,” VA Makes It Harder for Male Veterans With Breast Cancer to Get Coverage
A Department of Veterans Affairs memo obtained by ProPublica erects new roadblocks to care for veterans with the rare but deadly cancer. The agency cites no new science but relies on an executive order about “restoring biological truth” in government.
(ProPublica more…)
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USA Today: Children’s clothing retailer Carter’s closing 150 stores, cutting 300 jobs
The children’s clothing retailer said that higher costs, in part due to tariffs, contributed to lower profit margins.
CNN: Trump’s big concession to Xi is loaded with red flags
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On the surface, it’s a promising deal that could restore some of the trade that tariffs had stymied between the world’s two largest economies. The reduction will bring the minimum tariff on Chinese imports down to 20%, and the average tariff rate will fall to around 47%.
…Meanwhile, Trump risks further eroding America’s relationship with its key allies while gaining a friendlier relationship with its chief economic adversary.
…Why Trump is making a deal
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First, China has taken honest-to-goodness action on fentanyl. For example, the country over the summer added two more elements used to make fentanyl to its list of controlled substances. When criminal networks adapted and began selling those elements on the black market, China worked to thwart those exports, too.
…Second, China holds significant leverage over the United States. Trump’s tariffs have backfired in numerous ways, including by angering US farmers – a key voting bloc – and creating a rare-earth shortage. China has also refused to fully open up their market to American AI chips, a major Trump goal to help cement US dominance in artificial intelligence.
Tariffs remain one key lever that Trump can pull, even as China has found markets outside the United States willing to buy its goods, blunting the damage Trump’s levies have imposed.
Still, reducing tariffs represents one key Chinese demand. Trump’s meeting with Xi was another.
(CNN more…)Apple Insider: Don’t get too excited about the China tariff cut yet
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Bonnie Kristian: No president has the right to fabricate a war
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Wired: The Republican Plan to Reform the Census Could Put Everyone’s Privacy at Risk
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Chronicle of Higher Education: ‘We as Universities Have Lost Our Way’
The provost at the University of Texas at Austin on Trump’s compact, higher ed’s broken social contract, and red-state reform.
…Inboden: There certainly are high levels of anxiety among a number of sectors of faculty on campus. I understand that. We’re in a very turbulent time in higher education, and at the leadership level there are some things in a particular moment where we just can’t say much publicly. That can be frustrating, because when there is a vacuum I understand why people worry about dire scenarios.
(Chronicle of Higher Education more…)
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NY Times: Trump Threatens to Resume Nuclear Weapons Testing, Minutes Before Xi Meeting
Boing Boing: Trump’s nuclear testing to provide little strategic benefit just long-lasting environmental damage
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Al Jazeera: RFK Jr walks back Trump administration’s claims linking Tylenol and autism
Kennedy, a top health official, urges ‘cautious approach’ after Trump baselessly claimed taking Tylenol is linked autism in children.
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LAWdork: SCOTUS holds off ruling on Trump’s Nat’l Guard request, leaving troops blocked from Illinois for now
The U.S. Supreme Court put off ruling on the Trump administration’s request for an order that would allow President Donald Trump to send National Guard troops into Chicago — likely meaning that troops will be blocked from being deployed in Illinois at least through November 17.
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Decoding Fox News: Trump Just Grabbed the White House by the P*ssy
Trump Action Tracker
Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Department’s Anti-Voting Shift
Tracking the Lawsuits Against Trump’s Agenda
Trump Pardons Database
Project 2025 Tracker
DOGE Tracker
ProPublica: Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew
Wired: 6 Tools for Tracking the Trump Administration’s Attacks on Civil Liberties
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