United States | News & Politics

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/38456065

Anne Hutchinson Trial (1637)

Sat Nov 07, 1637

On this day in 1637, religious reformer Anne Hutchinson was brought to trial in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, where she was called a heretic and an instrument of the devil. She was later exiled from the community for her beliefs.

Anne Hutchinson (1591 - 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy, which shook the nascent Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638.

Hutchinson was known for being a powerful speaker, and insisted on the ability of women to read the bible for themselves, among other "unauthorized" interpretations of the gospel.

On November 7th, 1637, Hutchinson was brought to trial, where she was called a heretic and an instrument of the devil, and was exiled from the Puritan community for her beliefs. Thirty-five families, supporters of Hutchinson, followed her to settle in modern-day Rhode Island.

• Date: 1637-11-07
• Learn More: www.womenshistory.org, en.wikipedia.org, www.historyisaweapon.com.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org

It’s hard to remember a time when our government didn’t look like a nursing home. The last time we didn’t have a septuagenarian—or older—in the Oval Office was in 2016, and this year, the three members of Congress who died (rest in peace) died of old age. So it must have been really hard for Nancy Pelosi to buck the trend—and retire at the ripe age of 85. (Thank. God.)

On Thursday, the first female House Speaker tweeted a nearly six-minute video extolling San Francisco and paying homage to the city she’s represented for nearly four decades. “I want you, my fellow San Franciscans, to be the first to know—I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” she said. “With a grateful heart, I look forward to my final year of service as your proud representative.”

Following Pelosi’s announcement, several politicians—including Hillary Clinton and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas)—thanked her for her service and credited her influence. Former president Barack Obama said she’ll go down in history as “one of the best speakers the House of Representatives has ever had.” Even Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who’s been seemingly pulling a reverse John Fetterman as of late, went on CNN to say, “I’m very impressed at her ability to get things done. I wish we could get things done for our party like Nancy Pelosi was able to deliver for her party.” (But never forget: MTG was caught liking a comment in 2019 that said a “bullet to the head” could remove Pelosi from her Speaker position.)

On the other end of the MAGA spectrum, current House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sensed an opportunity to whine about Tuesday’s Blue Wave and lamented Pelosi’s move as a result of “radicals” taking over the Democratic Party. “That is a very important sign that I hope that you all will delve into,” he said. Delve, we shall!

If anyone was incredibly happy about the news, however, it was Trump, whom Pelosi made an enemy with on day one of his first term, when she rejected his handshake and deliberately ripped up a copy of his State of the Union address. “The retirement of Nancy Pelosi is a great thing for America,” Trump texted to Fox News’ Peter Doocy, calling her a “highly overrated politician.” “She was evil, corrupt, and only focused on bad things for our country. She was rapidly losing control of her party, and it was never coming back. I’m very honored that she impeached me twice and failed miserably twice.”

Pelosi won her first election in 1987, and “broke the marble ceiling” when she became the first woman to hold positions as both the Democratic Whip in 2001 and the Democratic Leader in 2002. She was House Speaker from 2007 to 2011 and from 2019 to 2023, and during her 20 terms, she helped architect the Affordable Care Act and Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, which permitted workers to sue employers for discriminatory pay.

Pelosi also, however, allegedly knew about the CIA waterboarding its prisoners in the early 2000s. She endorsed anti-abortion Democrats, she supported members of Congress trading stocks, and she’s been a staunch supporter of Israel (though her stance has softened in recent months). And, like any quintessential establishment Democrat, she’s cringingly centrist. The stand-out Pelosi moment for me is when she introduced the Justice in Policing Act of 2020—it was good legislation, but the milestone was underscored by the fact that she and other Democratic lawmakers dressed in kente stoles and bent a knee to announce it.

Speaking of gerontocracy, while recovering in the hospital from hip surgery in December, Pelosi whipped the vote against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) to lead the House Oversight Committee, instead backing Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who was 75 and had been diagnosed with throat cancer six months earlier. Connolly became the committee’s ranking Democrat but resigned four months later. He then passed away in May, sparking an endless stream of think pieces about how Democratic leaders were keeping a literal death grip on their power and refusing to step aside to make way for their younger counterparts. In September 2023, Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) died at age 90—and while she remains the longest-serving female senator, she tainted her storied career by refusing to resign despite months of rumors that she was suffering from shingles and memory loss. In May, Axios reported that of the 30 House Democrats aged 75 or older, more than half plan to run again in 2026. So don’t get me wrong: Pelosi could have done with retiring a few terms ago. But her stepping down is long overdue—and one that other politicians should take note of. While Pelosi will retire as one of the oldest politicians in Congress, she’s still not in the top three. That accolade goes to Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)—the literal oldest member of both chambers—who has refused to rule out running in 2026. So, well, we’ll take what we can get.

My finger, ground to a bloody stump, is tapping the sign saying that maybe there’s a reason why this is all so crazy yet again, as something pretty fucking crazy happened today. No, it wasn’t a democratic socialist being elected mayor of America’s largest city, but that the most famed office in the land now has what looks like some printer paper taped to its exterior with Live, Laugh, Love font reading, “The Oval Office.”

The Daily Beast reached out to the White House who told them that “President Trump is making the White House beautiful and giving it the glory it deserves. Only the Daily Beast and people with a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome would find a problem with that.” They don’t even know why this is happening! What the hell is this???

You can see a near-rounded or bent edge on the paper scrawled with “The” in one angle, while it sure looks like the three words reside on three separate pieces of roughly 8.5 x 11 paper that are unevenly stacked on top of each other. Again, every time I tap the sign, I should issue the disclosure that there’s many very good reasons you don’t diagnose health problems from a distance, but the problem of whittling down the possibilities for whatever this is excludes the entire rational universe. Irrationality is a much more difficult range to narrow down, and there is an explanation I have heard some folks echo.

“This is what they did at one of my mother’s dementia facilities, so that residents are less likely to get lost,” wrote author Andrea Pitzer. She is far from alone in connecting the labeling of the Oval Office to memory issues, but honestly, it still doesn’t explain this shit.

Why is it sloppily strewn across three separate pieces of paper? Is it taped to the wall? What kind of tape? This is the fucking Oval Office for Pete’s sake! If the old coot really is losing it and wandering around not knowing where he is, why does it look like this was thrown together in five minutes on Word? We’ve all seen Trump’s kitschy gilded setup inside, so why isn’t there some plastic-looking spray-painted gold lettering outside? Seriously…what the fuck is going on?!

I’m sorry for all the cursing, but I tend to lean on that crutch when I am genuinely confused. My brain is good at making connections between various kinds of information, but when that information is trash, it just glitches out and starts yelling at me. In all my years of covering Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0, I can’t think of anything that has happened that has less of an obvious explanation for it and has exasperated me like this. I’m sure our mild-mannered commenters have some ideas of their own over this extremely normal development outside the Oval Office, and for once I may actually read through all of them to see what theories people come up with.

A New York judge dismissed a legal challenge Friday from Texas seeking to enforce a more than $100,000 civil judgment against a doctor accused of prescribing abortion pills to a Dallas-area woman in an early test of the state’s “shield law” designed to protect providers.

Republican Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton wanted a New York court to enforce a civil decision from Texas against Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices north of New York City in Ulster County, for allegedly prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.

But acting Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck refused to file the judgment, saying he was a government employee who had to comply with New York’s shield law, which protects providers from other states’ reach.

Been waiting my entire life to read a headline like that.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/38457945

A federal agent who shot a Chicago woman multiple times after he said she struck his vehicle with her own bragged about his shooting skills in text messages with other agents, according to records presented Wednesday at a hearing in the case against the woman.

Records presented at the hearing showed that in a group Signal chat with other agents, which Exum described as a support group, he wrote in part: "I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”

In a message to another recipient, Exum sent a news article about the event followed by the message: "Read it. 5 shots, 7 holes."

A US man charged with using a sandwich to assault a law enforcement officer was acquitted Thursday after a jury decided that charges brought by President Donald Trump's prosecutors were baloney.

President Donald Trump has pardoned former Tennessee House speaker Glen Casada and his aide Cade Cothren.

We knew this was coming, but it doesn’t make it any less stupid. The road to the IRS’ Direct File program was long and hard-fought. We here at Techdirt have been talking about, and advocating for, something like the Direct File program for at least 15 years. The concept behind the program is a simple one. For a class of citizens with very simple income and tax payments, the IRS already has all the information it needs to process a tax return. In those cases, the IRS can simply mail the information it has to a taxpayer, ask them to sign off verifying the information is complete and accurate, and then process the return. The problem with this is that it cuts out the tax-prep industry that absolutely adores preying on these very same people to milk them for tax-prep services they don’t actually need.

Democrats face backlash from progressive voters as survey shows overwhelming support for primary challenges against party leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer.

"Shame on the Republicans who continue to shirk their duty and deny their constituents a voice," said one retired US Army general.

Stephen Miller melts down as Muslim immigrant Zohran Mamdani wins NYC mayor — hinting at deportations for defying Trump’s agenda

After fighting his candidacy to the bitter end, New York City billionaires are already offering to help incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

Archived version: https://archive.is/20251106225933/https://theintercept.com/2025/11/06/zohran-mamdani-wins-new-york-billionaires/

The five-year contract with government technology middleman Carahsoft Technology, made public in September, provides Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) licenses for a product called Zignal Labs, a social media monitoring platform used by the Israeli military and the Pentagon.

https://archive.li/N3Hws

The Israeli government has signed contracts worth millions of dollars in recent months to rehabilitate Israel's standing in American public opinion, both online and offline. Amid a sharp drop in support from the conservative right, Israel has hired firms to conduct not just "hasbara [public diplomacy] campaigns" but also campaigns targeting millions of Christian churchgoers, bot networks to amplify pro-Israel messages online, and efforts to influence both search results and the responses given by popular AI services like ChatGPT.

https://archive.is/csVPb

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45227830

Chinese police harass filmmakers in the U.S. and their families in China to shut down film festival in New York City, rights group says

[...]

Chinese authorities harassed several dozen Chinese film directors and producers, as well as their families in China, causing them to pull films from the inaugural IndieChina Film Festival in New York City, Human Rights Watch said today. On November 6, 2025, the festival’s organizer, Zhu Riku, announced that the film festival, scheduled for November 8-15, had been “suspended.”

“The Chinese government reached around the globe to shut down a film festival in New York City,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “This latest act of transnational repression demonstrates the Chinese government’s aim to control what the world sees and learns about China.”

Chiang Seeta, a Chinese artist and activist, reported that nearly all participating directors in China faced intimidation. Even directors abroad, including those who are not Chinese nationals, reported that their relatives and friends in China were receiving threatening calls from police, said Chiang.

[...]

Christ, is he holding the shareholders' children hostage here, or what? From the article:

The vote is a resounding victory for Musk showing investors still have faith in him as Tesla struggles with plunging sales, market share and profits in no small part due to Musk himself. Car buyers fled the company this year as he has ventured into politics both in the U.S. and Europe, and trafficked in conspiracy theories.

The vote came just three days after a report from Europe showing Tesla car sales plunged again last month, including a 50% collapse in Germany.

While many observers predicted chaos, visitors who headed to NPS-managed sites over the summer mostly saw parks that seemed to be functioning as normal. The bathrooms were clean, the trash picked up, the visitor centers staffed.

Behind that veneer of normalcy, though, all was not well. Outside Articles Editor Fred Dreier spent two months talking to active and former rangers at Rocky Mountain National Park and learned how staff cuts—and now a government shutdown—have stretched some of them to their breaking point.

....

And what people told me is, “Look, the people who work at the NPS care a lot about their jobs. And they’re going to do everything within their power to make sure it seems like things are not falling apart. They are going to do so at the sacrifice of their own mental and physical well-being. They’re going to take on extra shifts and work long hours and do these things to make sure that the park appears like it’s working normal, even though they’re going to have to really step up to do it.”

And so that’s the thrust of the story, is about how the people at Rocky Mountain National Park, the rangers, the full-time rangers—they lost anywhere from 30 to 40 of their co-workers—but they are stepping up to fill those jobs and to fill those positions. And by doing so, they are having to take on lots of overtime, lots of extra shifts, and work these insanely long weeks and long hours to make sure everything is working well. But they are doing so at the sacrifice of their own mental and emotional well-being.

...

things have always been tough and it’s always been a labor of love, but this is the year that it reached a ridiculous level of physical and emotional strife. My sources told me they saw people breaking down in tears on their job, searching for other jobs, just having really, really difficult situations.

And park management knows this. One of the most pressing parts of my story was that I obtained an email that was sent from an NPS full-time employee at Rocky Mountain National Park to management as a ‘reply all’ to a message that had been sent by the park superintendent. And in this email, the NPS worker said, “This is beyond what I’ve ever seen. I’ve worked for the NPS for 12 years. I’ve worked for the Forest Service. I’ve worked for the BLM. And I’ve never seen a park unit so understaffed, so overworked, and seen people pushed so to their breaking point. And we need relief. We need some type of light at the end of the tunnel that’s coming.” And from what I understand, that was not addressed by park management.

...

A government that flouts the Fourth Amendment and then lies about it to courts and the people has crossed a moral and legal frontier.

Inside the gerontocracy's quiet war on yours truly