NJ newsrooms are dying and shrinking, but is government funding the answer? Governor Sherrill's proposed budget nixes funding for a decade-long effort to boost local news startups and innovation.

I didn’t realize Mikie Sherrill’s budget proposal cut funds for the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium. That is bad! They should not do that!

Is America contagious? Scholars in political extremism are documenting the global spread of right-wing populism.

Orban’s defeat also removes a major part of the far-right populist infrastructure worldwide, which I wrote about this fall: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Pete Hegseth’s holy war: the militant Christian theology animating the US attack on Iran The bible-thumping US defense secretary is overseeing another strategic disaster in the Middle East. Is this a war or a crusade?

Pete Hegseth believes that Jesus guides Tomahawk missiles, even when they hit elementary schools.

I wrote about the roots of his militant faith - from the Crusades to the confederacy - and what they mean for the US and Iran today.

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Unmasking the Paramilitary Agents Behind Trump’s Violent Immigration Crackdown A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history.

"A WIRED analysis of DHS records identified dozens of specialized federal agents who used force against US civilians during the largest known deployment of its kind in US history."

Jews paused Indiana’s abortion ban — by turning a religious freedom law against the evangelical right As governor, Mike Pence signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, amid a conservative Christian push against LGBTQ rights. A judge’s ruling is inspiring hopes other states’ abortion restrictions c...

Mike Pence got totally owned here: Jewish plaintiffs won a ruling against Indiana's abortion ban, using the law he signed 11 years ago as governor to help evangelicals refuse to cater gay weddings and such. Now similar challenges could win in other red states. We tell the story at @forward.com.

So are we going old school matrilineal? 2 grandparents? 1? 3? What if only 1 grandparent but had a bar mitzvah? What if all four grandparents but super secular? Very excited to see where our esteemed federal courts go next

Pro-Israel group Betar to end New York operations after inquiry finds ‘violent conduct’ State attorney general found far-right group harassed ‘Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and Jewish New Yorkers’

I wonder if this case has any actual connection to members of Betar, given that the New York chapter was shut down earlier this year — though for exactly this reason of "bias-motivated assaults, threats, and harassment targeting Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and Jewish New Yorkers."

US law enforcement foils plot to assassinate Palestinian American activist Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of Within Our Lifetime, says FBI told her plot against her life was ‘about to’ take place

"For months, Zionist organizations like Betar and politicians like Randy Fine have encouraged violence against my family and me," Kiswani said.

"For years, Betar USA stalked & harassed me even offering $1,800 for someone to hand me a beeper while I was pregnant."

Great questions by smart students, thanks for having me!

Huge thanks to @jacobhwasserman.bsky.social , audience engagement editor at The Guardian and of course Amazing Engagement Alum 4eva for talking to my community engagement class today - and even sending us stickers!

The NYPD is not required to protect New Yorkers, city lawyers argue in court filing The argument came in response to a claim filed by Amanda Luci, who alleged NYPD officers failed to protect her from a mob of young men and boys who attacked her in Crown Heights in 2025.

"The NYPD is not constitutionally required to help a person being attacked by an angry mob, lawyers for the city argued in a recent court filing."

To be fair the NYPD motto is "Faithful Unto Death", not "Protect and Serve", so I'm not sure they ever actually promised to protect New Yorkers

it’s unreal how these grown-ass men had no problem destroying untold lives with chatGPT but go crying to a judge when people make fun of them online

Every single professional journalist who uses the phrases “Department of War” or “Secretary of War” without scare quotes should be lined up on a public viewing stage and bopped on the head with a giant inflatable hammer that says DUMB DUMB on the handle and makes fart sounds.

The worst of the worst: how Kristi Noem treated the American people ‘like dogs’

Kristi Noem once led a dog to a gravel pit and ended its life with the cold precision of a mafia hit.

On Thursday, the homeland security secretary confronted the grim truth that she, too, was expendable, David Smith writes:

“Anytime Israel or the US is involved in the Middle East, we get this stuff about Christian nationalists who’ve taken over our government, and certainly our US military,” Mikey Weinstein, MRFF’s president, who is an air force veteran, told the Guardian.

FOUNDING FATHERS: let’s create a nationwide network of postal delivery

*one Father from the shadows*: let’s create a line to a window where people bring their most time-intensive, unsolvable problems at the busiest moments of life

ICE has detained this high schooler for 10 months. Here’s what he and his classmates want you to know Dylan Lopez Contreras, a student at Ellis Prep academy, was taken by ICE in May. The Guardian invited him and five of his classmates to share their lives and dreams

"I’m still trying to understand how a country that calls itself 'United' has turned into a nation divided between those who are welcomed, and those who are watched."

Students speak out after the arrest of their classmate by ICE:

Meanwhile Nick Shirley, the dipshit MAGA influencer who started this whole racist panic about fraud at Somali-run daycares, is saying “EXPOSE IT ALL” in response to a deeply antisemitic video about ”New Jersey’s Jewish Invasion”

The floor plan for the planned ICE concentration camp in Social Circle, Georgia:

Worst of the worst? Most US immigrants targeted for deportation in 2025 had no criminal charges, documents reveal A Guardian analysis finds the vast majority of people who entered deportation proceedings for the first time from January to August last year had no criminal convictions

The Trump admin claims they have been arresting the worst of the worst. But the Guardian, working with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press sued the govt for docs that show that isn't true.

77% of people who entered deportation proceedings in 2025 had no criminal conviction

My latest:

DoJ cases against protesters keep collapsing as officers’ lies are exposed in court String of embarrassing defeats for prosecutors as experts condemn DoJ effort to cast people as ‘violent perpetrators’

A MN protester accused of assaulting ICE officer had case dropped after vids showed no assault.

LA protester accused of assaulting ICE w/ “hat” had case dropped; judge said govt acted in “bad faith”

In Chicago, 92 ppl were arrested for assault/impeding ICE; 0 convicted

DOJ keeps lying and losing:

For ICE to build concentration camps quickly, they're leaning on this Dept. of War program WEXMAC TITUS helps contractors bypass the traditionally lengthy government contract bidding process

NEW — An obscure Navy contractor program is making Trump’s plans to quickly build out and supply immigrant concentration camps around the country a reality.

Here I explain WEXMAC TITUS, an acronym you need to understand:

Free Paco, beloved worker organizer detained by ICE Earlier this month, as part of Operation Metro Surge, ICE took a beloved local workers’ rights leader. Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, known to many as “Paco,” was on his way to work on January 9, 2026, wh...

Paco Orozco Verdusco, an organizer and union steward at the Minnesota Newspaper & Communications Guild, was detained by ICE last month during Operation Metro Surge.

His family is collecting donations to help pay for legal fees and support themselves while they fight for his release:

Have you ever once seen the New York Times quote Trump like this?

From last night's @semafor.com media newsletter: The Guardian is launching a video-first daily news podcast hosted by Kai Wright and Carter Sherman.

It's part of a larger push by the publication into video, and a further investment in the US, where the Guardian now has 200 staffers.

This is a pogrom

Oh yes, that’s correct. I misread your first comment lol they went actively anti-Malinowski, but also were hoping that either Gill or Way won as pro-Israel candidates

AIPAC fails its first test in the midterms Tom Malinowski and Analilia Mejia are in a dead heat in a NJ election AIPAC spent millions on to elect a candidate they saw as more pro-Israel

AIPAC was backing the two people who are currently in third and fourth — Malinowski drew their ire over his position on Israel:

forward.com/fast-forward...