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    As Starmer’s popularity tanks, what can Labour learn from Zohran Mamdani’s success in New York?

    Progressives in the UK and US are grappling with the same question. Why have rightwing populists become so much more successful at tapping into public concern? And why are so few politicians on the left connecting with ordinary people?Barely a year after taking power in Britain, Labour’s popularity has collapsed with unprecedented rapidity against surging support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.In the US, a year after Joe Biden’s defeat, the Democrats are still derided by swathes of voters and remain at a loss for how to take on Donald Trump’s unique brand of politics.But while Labour and the Democrats languish in nationwide polls, there are exceptions. In New York over the summer, Zohran Mamdani rose from little-known assembly member to social media sensation and heavily favoured Democratic nominee in November’s mayoral contest.His success in the Democratic primary comes on the back of a highly impactful people-powered campaign that looks likely to propel him to victory. A poll for the New York Times this week concluded that Mamdani held a commanding lead over his three rivals for the mayoralty, including the scandal-hit incumbent, Eric Adams, and the multimillionaire former governor Andrew Cuomo.What if anything, can Labour learn from his success?It’s the economy, stupidPolitical observers in the UK believe Labour has a communications problem. But for good comms, you need substance. For Mamdani, that has come in the form of a laser-sharp focus on the economy and affordability.According to the NYT/Siena poll this week, 49% of likely voters thought Mamdani would perform best on affordability issues, compared with 23% who said the same of Cuomo and 10% for Adams.“Elections are almost always about very, very fundamental things,” said Matthew McGregor, the chief executive of 38 Degrees who is a former digital adviser to Ed Miliband and worked as a digital campaign strategist in Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign.“Mamdani has got an agenda that clicks with people’s real lived experience of a city that has become just farcically expensive, doesn’t work for working-class people, and where there is very stark inequality between people in the boroughs and the rich parts of Manhattan,” he said.Claire Ainsley, a former Labour policy chief who now runs the centre-left renewal project at the Progressive Policy Institute, a US thinktank, said: “He’s highlighted the cost of living and affordability, and that’s right – that is the major issue that’s bothering Americans. Even if inflation is under control, cost of living is a big problem.”By comparison, Labour’s first year in power has been characterised by constantly changing policy priorities. Before and after being elected, Starmer has variously talked about his six first steps, six “milestones”, five “missions” and three “foundations”.Most recently, the prime minister has sought to reset his government by announcing a “phase two” focused on delivery, including the economy – but for many Labour MPs these constantly shifting priorities betray a frustrating lack of vision that makes it difficult to connect with the public.Champion compelling, costed policiesWith his focus on affordability, Mamdani has identified the key problem for many New Yorkers. Crucially, he is also presenting clear and compelling solutions.His policies include free bus transport, a rent freeze on the city’s 2.3m regulated apartments, a crackdown on bad landlords and commercial rent control, free childcare for parents starting at six months, and a $30 minimum wage by 2030.“His answers aren’t ‘Have you read through my 12-page white paper on breaking down planning so we can get New York building again?’. It’s not ‘We’re going to make work pay by encouraging businesses to invest’. It’s ‘We’re going to make buses free, we’re going to fill in the grocery deserts’,” McGregor said. “Practical, meaningful things that people can grasp and understand.”Mamdani is seeing off criticism about the feasibility of his promises by setting out clearly how they will be paid for – imposing a 2% tax on the top 1% of residents earning more than $1m annually, and raising New York City’s top corporate tax rate from 7.25% to match neighbouring New Jersey’s at 11.5%.For its part, Labour is implementing a whole slate of progressive policies that are very popular with voters – strengthening renters’ and workers’ rights, including a ban on fire-and-rehire practices, increasing the minimum wage, cutting down hospital waiting lists and making it easier to see a GP.The trouble is, these are not being properly championed. Ministers seem reluctant to bang the drum for some of their most popular moves, sometimes for fear of angering business. Last year, Downing Street disowned a press statement that called P&O Ferries a “rogue operator” for past fire-and-rehire practices after the firm threatened to pull out of an investment summit.Craft an overarching story – and pick a sideDavid Axelrod, a former strategist to Obama who then advised Ed Miliband in 2015, memorably said Labour’s campaign that year failed because it could be summed up with: “Vote Labour, win a microwave.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionHis point was that Labour in 2015 offered voters a set of loosely connected transactional promises but lacked any overarching narrative. Many believe this is a problem plaguing the current Labour government and a key to explaining the success of Trump in the US and Farage in the UK.Both Trump and Farage have clear narrative stories to tell about the problems of the country and their proposed solutions. So does Mamdani. McGregor said: “He wants to be a politician that says this whole system isn’t working, and we’re going to change things in a bigger way. Politics is a vibes-based business in the modern media environment, and everything you do is a demonstration of whose side are you on.”He added: “I think you can learn from Mamdani without saying we have to be more leftwing. Those policies need to connect to that bigger story that you’re telling. Farage is telling a story, and Trump is telling a story, and Mamdani is telling a story about the country, its challenges and problems and who’s to blame for them.”That final point – picking a side and identifying your adversaries – is key. Ed Owen, a former UK government special adviser during the New Labour years who is now a visiting fellow at the centre-left US thinktank Third Way, said: “We on the centre left are great at being rather po-faced, rational, logical, and establishing ourselves inadvertently as the defenders of the status quo that most people hate.“We are in a period of history where people’s faith in politics and politicians is at an all-time low. Insurgent political figures like Mamdani, and also on the right, are good at positioning themselves as agents of change.”Get social media-savvyEven when you tick all those boxes – a focus on people’s biggest concerns, popular policies and a compelling overarching narrative – you need a way to cut through to the public, including to voters who don’t follow politics closely.Mamdani is a hugely talented communicator who has built a huge presence on social media. His masterful campaign videos and direct, easy style are shared with 1.4 million followers on TikTok and 4 million on Instagram. Unlike most politicians, at 33 he is a social media native.“These TikTok videos, I think, are a really compelling and interesting manifestation of something,” McGregor said. “Understanding the modern media environment and the fact that huge swathes of people consume information in completely different ways to how they did five, 10, let alone 20 years ago.”The decline of traditional media means many voters consume news only through snippets on their social media feeds. The only UK politician with a major TikTok presence is Farage – he rivals Mamdani’s reach with 1.3 million followers.Despite the efforts of successive No 10 comms chiefs, the UK government has been slow at adapting to new forms of communication – though Starmer and other ministers are increasingly popping up on alternative platforms such as digital-only outlets and parenting podcasts.Owen said: “We’ve got to be able to communicate where people are – and that’s increasingly on social media channels – in the form they want. And we’ve been really bad at it.”Be an authentic local voiceMamdani is a very New York success story – and one that observers say can’t be simply copy-pasted to the UK or other parts of the US. “It isn’t as if this is some sort of template you can just transpose to any political environment,” Owen said.Ainsley said: “If there is a lesson to be drawn, it’s about the importance of authentic candidates that speak to the voters that you need. Clearly, his victory has energised parts of the left, but they are not representative of the mainstream of America, that is where the midterms and the next presidential election will be fought.“He’s played to the base that he needed, which is a narrow selectorate in New York City. He’s got conviction, and one of the things that the swing voters who’ve moved away from the Democrats over time have said to us is that they want politicians with conviction – but they also want candidates that have got the competence and credible policies that they think are going to meet their everyday needs.” More

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    Rubio heads to Israel amid tensions over strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar

    The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has arrived in Israel seeking to mend a rift with Washington’s other allies in the region over Israel’s attempted assassination of Hamas leaders in Qatar and the accelerated expansion of settlements on the occupied West Bank.In talks with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Rubio will try to balance criticism of the Israeli airstrike on a Doha building, which killed aides to a Hamas leader and a Qatari security officer, with a message of overall support for Israel before the expected formal recognition of Palestine by a number of other US allies, including the UK, France, Canada, Australia and Belgium.Rubio, before his departure on Sunday, told reporters: “Obviously, we’re not happy about it. The president was not happy about it. Now we need to move forward and figure out what comes next.” He stressed the incident was “not going to change the nature of our relationship with the Israelis”.The Netanyahu government is seeking to play down any rift with the Trump administration over the Doha strike, while remaining defiant over the attack.“We have a very close dialogue with the administration. We’re coordinated with them and, relatively speaking, the American reaction was reasonable,” the Israeli ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said on Israeli army radio. “At the UN security council they expressed reservations, but the reservations were minor. We took into account that this would have a price.“The Qataris are trying to ride on this. From their perspective, they are leveraging this incident. From our perspective, we delivered the clear message that we will pursue the terrorists everywhere.”Asked if he was concerned about threats by Israeli officials to carry out further strikes in Qatar, Rubio said: “We’re going to meet with them. We’re going to talk about what the future holds. I’m going to get a much better understanding of what their plans are moving forward.After Israel, Rubio is due to join Trump’s planned visit to Britain this week, which will reportedly soon receive its first group of injured and sick children from Gaza for treatment.While in Jerusalem on Sunday, Rubio will visit the Western Wall with Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.The unprecedented attack by Israel against Hamas leaders in an upmarket neighbourhood of Doha on Tuesday marked Israel’s first such strike against US ally Qatar, putting renewed strain on diplomatic efforts to bring about a truce in war-ravaged Gaza and drawing international criticism.Trump has openly chided Netanyahu over the attack, which targeted Hamas leaders gathering to discuss a new ceasefire proposal put forward by the US.Netanyahu has defended the operation, saying on Saturday that killing senior Hamas officials would remove the “main obstacle” to ending the war.The talk of a ceasefire, still out of reach after months of failed negotiations, came as Israel has been intensifying its campaign in the Gaza Strip.In recent days, it has ramped up efforts to seize control of Gaza City, the territory’s largest urban area, telling residents to evacuate and blowing up numerous high-rise buildings it said were being used by Hamas.While thousands of people have evacuated the city, according to the Israeli military and Hamas, many more remain.Gaza’s civil defence agency said 32 people were killed by Israeli fire on Saturday.Netanyahu and his government have defied international criticism throughout the nearly two-year war, but it continued to mount this week.On Friday, the UN general assembly voted to back a revival of the two-state solution, in open defiance of Israeli opposition.Israeli allies Britain and France, alongside several other western countries, are preparing to recognise Palestinian statehood at a UN gathering this month out of exasperation at Israel’s conduct of the Gaza war and in the occupied West Bank.London and Paris, joined by Berlin, also called for an immediate halt to Israel’s offensive in Gaza City. Nevertheless, Israel retains the backing of its most powerful ally and biggest arms supplier, the US.Before Rubio’s visit, the state department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the US’s top diplomat would show “our commitment to fight anti-Israel actions including unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state that rewards Hamas terrorism”.“He will also emphasise our shared goals: ensuring Hamas never rules over Gaza again and bringing all the hostages home.”In Israel, opponents of the Netanyahu government have sought to put pressure on ministers to end the war in return for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.On Saturday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the main campaign group, accused the Israeli prime minister of being the “one obstacle” to freeing the hostages and accused him of repeatedly sabotaging ceasefire efforts.Of the 251 people taken hostage by Hamas militants in October 2023, 47 remain in Gaza, including 25 whom the Israeli military says are dead.The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally of official figures.Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed at least 64,803 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.With Agence France-Presse and Reuters More

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    Trump news at a glance: Kirk critics lose jobs amid rancour after killing

    The killing of Charlie Kirk has prompted a crackdown by authorities on critical commentary, with numerous people losing their jobs over their reaction to the fatal shooting of the conservative activist and free speech advocate.Those fired, suspended or censured in recent days include teachers, firefighters, journalists, politicians, a Secret Service employee, a junior strategist at Nasdaq and a worker for a prominent NFL team.Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, has ordered staff “to find and identify military members, and any individual associated with the Pentagon, who have mocked or appeared to condone Charlie Kirk’s murder”, NBC News reported. It said several members of the military were relieved of their duties because of social media posts – and that “dozens” more, including civilian Pentagon employees, had been “called out on X”.Republicans’ anger at those disrespecting Kirk’s legacy contrasts with the mockery some of the same figures – including Kirk – directed at past victims of political violence. After Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was clubbed over the head by a hammer-wielding conspiracy theorist, Kirk told a TV audience: “If some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out.”Conservative figures search for Kirk criticsAlong with government efforts to clamp down, a number of conservative figures and groups are attempting to collate and expose examples of commentary seen as objectionable. Some Republicans have proposed deporting Kirk’s critics from the United States, suing them into penury or banning them from social media for life.Laura Loomer, a Trump loyalist, posted to X: “Prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death. I’m going to make you wish you never opened your mouth.”Read the full storyQuestions remain over alleged Kirk shooter’s motivation Though the identity of the suspect in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk was revealed by authorities on Friday, questions surrounding his motivations have exacerbated intense US political debate in the aftermath of the shooting. In absence of a clear motive for the slaying, reports have tried to piece together information about Robinson and his background.Read the full storyStaffer at Mexico’s ruling party resigns after TV comments about KirkA congressional staffer from Mexico’s ruling party has resigned after being called out online for comments he made on a major Mexican television news program. Salvador Ramírez told a roundtable political analysis program that Kirk was “given a spoonful of his own chocolate” because of his promotion of the use of weapons.Read the full storyPentagon eying Louisiana to deploy national guard, leaked plans showThe Trump administration has drafted a proposal to deploy 1,000 Louisiana national guard troops to conduct law enforcement operations in the state’s urban centers, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing military planning documents it had obtained.Democratic leaders have said that the massive deployments are more a show of power by Trump rather than a serious effort to fight crime.Read the full storyFBI director ridiculed by far right for clumsy response to Kirk killingFBI director Kash Patel has been criticised heavily both for his perceived incompetent stewardship of the bureau in investigating the Kirk killing and his invocation of Viking lore. After announcing the arrest of a suspect, an emotional Patel said: “Lastly, to my friend Charlie Kirk, rest now, brother. We have the watch, and I’ll see you in Valhalla.”One poster on a far-right channel on Telegram: “Hindu FBI Director tells assassinated Christian that he will see him in Valhalla … OK then.”Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

    Zohran Mamdani said he would order New York police to arrest Benjamin Netanyahuin the event that the Israeli prime minister ever traveled there, if the mayoral candidate wins the election.

    Elon Musk has called for a “dissolution of parliament” and a “change of government” in the UK while addressing a crowd attending a “unite the kingdom” rally in London, organised by a far-right activist.
    Catching up? Here’s what happened on 12 September 2025. More

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    Leaked plans show Pentagon eyeing Louisiana to deploy national guard

    Donald Trump’s administration has drafted a proposal to deploy 1,000 Louisiana national guard troops to conduct law enforcement operations in the state’s urban centers, the Washington Post reported Saturday, citing military planning documents it had obtained.Trump has made crime a major focus of his administration even as violent crime rates have fallen in many US cities. His crackdown on Democratic-led municipalities has fueled legal concerns and spurred protests, including a recent demonstration by several thousand people in Washington DC.Democratic leaders have said that the massive deployments are more a show of power by Trump rather than a serious effort to fight crime.More than a dozen residents of Shreveport, Louisiana, told Reuters they viewed any deployment as more of a political stunt than a meaningful crime-fighting solution – and a way for Trump to blunt criticism that he’s only targeting Democratic-controlled states.Louisiana’s governor, Jeff Landry, is Republican. The mayors of Shreveport and Baton Rouge, two of Louisiana’s most prominent cities, are Republicans. But the mayor of New Orleans, the state’s best-known city, is a Democrat.A Pentagon spokesperson did not comment in detail on the documents. A spokesperson said: “Leaked documents should not be interpreted as policy. We will not discuss these plans through leaked documents, pre-decisional or otherwise.”The planning documents, according to the Post, state that the plan would allow the military to supplement law enforcement in cities such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Both cities have majority Black populations.The Pentagon’s plan outlines a mobilization lasting until 30 September 2026, though no start date was specified.Among the documents is an unsigned, undated draft memo from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth to US attorney general Pam Bondi and homeland security secretary Kristi Noem, which highlights the “unique advantage” of the military’s proposed approach to law enforcement in Louisiana, according to the Post.Hinging on a request for troop deployment from Landry, who is a staunch Trump supporter, the proposal has not been confirmed as approved by federal or state officials, according to the Post’s reporting. The Pentagon’s Louisiana plan suggests a robust operation is under consideration, with national guard personnel “supplementing” the law enforcement presence in high-crime neighborhoods. They could also help with drug interdiction and by providing “logistical and communications support” to local authorities, the Washington Post reported.On Friday, Trump said he would send national guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee. More

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    Rubio calls Russian drones over Poland ‘unacceptable’ but declines to say it was intentional

    The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, on Saturday said the incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace this week was unacceptable but that it remained unclear whether Russia had deliberately sent the drones into Polish territory. Nato announced plans to beef up the defense of Europe’s eastern flank on Friday, after Poland shot down the drones that had violated its airspace, the first known shots fired by a member of the western alliance during Russia’s war in Ukraine.“We think it’s an unacceptable and unfortunate and dangerous development,” Rubio told reporters before departing on a trip to Israel and Britain.“No doubt about it: the drones were intentionally launched. The question is whether the drones were targeted to go into Poland specifically.“Rubio said that if the drones had been targeted at Poland, “if the evidence leads us there, then obviously that’ll be a highly escalatory move”.“There are a number of other possibilities as well, but I think we’d like to have all the facts and consult with our allies before we make specific determinations,” he added. On Friday, Poland rejected Donald Trump’s suggestion that the incursions could have been a mistake, a rare contradiction of the US president from one of Washington’s closest European allies. Its foreign minister told Reuters that Poland hoped Washington would take action to show solidarity with Warsaw. At the United Nations on Friday, the US called the airspace violations “alarming” and vowed to “defend every inch of NATO territory”.Russia has said its forces had been attacking Ukraine at the time of the drone incursions and that it had not intended to hit targets in Poland. More

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    Several people fired after clampdown on speech over Charlie Kirk shooting

    Reactions on social media to the murder of far-right activist Charlie Kirk have cost multiple people their jobs as authorities in numerous states clamp down on critical commentary.Among those to have been fired, suspended or censured in recent days for their opinions include teachers, firefighters, journalists, politicians, a Secret Service employee, a junior strategist at Nasdaq and a worker for a prominent NFL team.The dismissals come as the administration of Donald Trump promises to take action against foreign nationals it deems to be “praising, rationalizing or making light of” Kirk’s killing, himself a fervent free speech advocate.Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, meanwhile, has ordered staff “to find and identify military members, and any individual associated with the Pentagon, who have mocked or appeared to condone Charlie Kirk’s murder”, NBC News reported Friday.The outlet, citing two defense department officials, said several members of the military were relieved of their duties because of social media posts – and that “dozens” more, including civilian Pentagon employees, had been “called out on X”.Along with government efforts to clamp down, a number of conservative figures and groups are attempting to collate and expose examples of commentary seen as objectionable.Others have been subjected to torrents of online abuse or seen their offices flooded with calls demanding they be fired, part of a surge in rightwing rage that has followed the killing.Some Republicans want to go further still and have proposed deporting Kirk’s critics from the United States, suing them into penury or banning them from social media for life.Laura Loomer, a Trump loyalist, posted to X: “Prepare to have your whole future professional aspirations ruined if you are sick enough to celebrate his death. I’m going to make you wish you never opened your mouth.”Republican congressman Clay Higgins said in a post on X that anyone who “ran their mouth with their smartass hatred celebrating the heinous murder of that beautiful young man” needed to be “banned from ALL PLATFORMS FOREVER”. The US deputy secretary of state, Christopher Landau, said on the same site that he had been disgusted to “see some on social media praising, rationalizing, or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action”.Republicans’ anger at those disrespecting Kirk’s legacy contrasts with the mockery some of the same figures – including Kirk – directed at past victims of political violence, Reuters reported.For example, when former House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was clubbed over the head by a hammer-wielding conspiracy theorist during a break-in at their San Francisco home shortly before the 2022 midterm elections, Higgins posted a photo making fun of the attack. He later deleted the post.Loomer falsely suggested that Paul Pelosi and his assailant were lovers, calling the brutal assault on the octogenarian a “booty call gone wrong”. Speaking to a television audience a few days after the attack, a grinning Kirk called for the intruder to be sprung from jail.“If some amazing patriot out there in San Francisco or the Bay Area wants to really be a midterm hero, someone should go and bail this guy out,” he said.Loomer and Higgins did not return messages to Reuters seeking comment.Scott Presler, a far-right activist with 2.3 million followers on X, asked for tips about teachers “celebrating Kirk’s death” – and he has shared posts and social media profiles of alleged wrongdoers, including details of their workplaces, Time reported.In Florida, the state’s board of education issued a proactive memorandum specifically warning school employees not to post any personal viewpoints that “may undermine the trust of the students and families that they serve”.Two educators in Clay county were removed from their classrooms and placed under state investigation on Thursday, one an elementary school teacher who posted to her personal social media account an article about the shooting, and the words: “This may not be the obituary we were all hoping to wake up to, but it is a close second for me.”The other, a high school counselor, alluded in a post to Kirk’s position, expressed in 2023, that it was “worth it” to have “some gun deaths every single year” to protect the “God-given right” of gun ownership.The counselor wrote, “37 years in public education, ready to take a bullet for my kids. No I’m not shedding a tear, he chose to sacrifice himself for the rights [to] be protected. Karma’s a bitch.”The comments were “egregious” and “hateful”, Jennifer Bradley, a Republican state senator, said in a statement.Arguably the most prominent individual to lose employment was Matthew Dowd, a veteran political analyst fired by MSNBC for suggesting on air that Kirk’s radical rhetoric may have contributed to the violence that killed him.“Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions,” Dowd said, adding: “You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.”The network and Dowd issued separate apologies. But in a Substack article published Friday, Dowd said he was the victim of a “rightwing media mob”, and that his words had been misconstrued because he spoke before knowing Kirk was the target or had been fired upon.Most of those who have been fired or suspended, however, are people in regular jobs whose comments displeased their employers or were otherwise exposed. They include a Secret Service agent who said Kirk “spewed hate and racism on his show” and “you can’t circumvent karma”.The Carolina Panthers, an American football franchise, fired a communications coordinator who asked on Instagram: “Why are y’all sad? Your man said it was worth it,” another reference to Kirk’s previous comments on the constitution’s second amendment, guaranteeing Americans the right to bear arms.A reporter covering pro basketball’s Phoenix Suns lost his job for posting comments including: “Truly don’t care if you think it’s insensitive or poor timing to decline to respect an evil man who died.”A New Orleans firefighter was reportedly thrust under investigation by her employer after posting – then deleting – a social media comment that called the bullet that struck Kirk “a gift from god”.Delta Air Lines announced it had suspended employees over “social media content related to Kirk’s killing that the company judged to have gone “well beyond healthy, respectful debate”. According to a statement signed by Delta’s chief executive officer Ed Bastian, the suspensions would remain in effect pending an investigation, and the company made it a point to say “violations of our social media policy can carry meaningful consequences, including termination”.Separately, American Airlines issued a statement on social media saying “employees who promote such violence on social media were immediately removed from service”.“We will continue to initiate action with team members who display this kind of behavior,” American Airlines’ statement said.The Hill gave numerous other examples of workers, including nurses, university employees, and others, fired or disciplined for their comments. A teacher in Oregon, it said, lost their job for saying Kirk’s death had “really brightened up my day”.Reuters contributed reporting More

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    Illinois lawmakers demand answers in Ice killing: ‘A traffic violation should never amount to a death sentence’

    A US congresswoman from Illinois and local officials in and around Chicago are calling for an investigation into the traffic stop initiated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents that resulted in the shooting death of Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez on Friday.A joint statement whose signatories included Democratic US House member Delia Ramirez said Villegas-Gonzalez’s killing in the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park illustrated “the inevitable violence” resulting from the deportation campaign mounted by Donald Trump’s administration during his second presidency.The statement also said community members were “outraged” at the “violent spectacle” that killed Villegas-Gonzalez near a school at a time when parents were dropping their children off.“What happened … is not an isolated incident. It is the consequence of Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda,” the statement said in part.The Trump-led Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accused Villegas-Gonzalez of having “resisted arrest, attempted to flee the scene and dragged a [Ice] officer a significant distance with his car” at the time of his killing.One surveillance video of the incident uploaded to social media shows Villegas-Gonzalez backing up, then driving forward with at least one officer pulling on his door. Another video shows agents trying to get into Villegas-Gonzalez’s car by pulling on a door handle after it crashed into a truck.The agents eventually breaks the glass and unlocks the car from the inside. One of the agents pulls Villegas-Gonzalez’s body several feet away from the car before laying it on the ground. That agent and another both kneel next to Villegas-Gonzalez, whose legs are seen moving before the video ends.Villegas-Gonzalez’s death comes as Ice has ramped up operations in Chicago and the city’s suburbs in what the agency dubbed Operation Midway Blitz. On social media, DHS officials said the operation was meant to honor Katie Abraham, one of two women killed in a car crash in January. Officials investigating that wreck charged Julio Cucul-Bol, a Guatemalan national who was in the US without permission, with leaving the scene of a deadly crash, aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death and reckless homicide.Ice on Friday detained another man, named William Alberto Gimenez Gonzalez, who was in a barber shop at the time of his arrest. The local advocacy group Latino Union of Chicago released a statement expressing concern that Gimenez may have been targeted because of his involvement with a lawsuit against the retail chain Home Depot and off-duty Chicago police officers.A 2024 investigation by the local news outlet and journalism lab City Bureau had found that recently arrived immigrants were being physically assaulted and detained by Home Depot store employees and off-duty officers.Ice was previously sued in 2018 by Illinois advocacy groups and people who were detained by the agency after it conducted warrantless traffic stops on people in the state. The two sides reached a settlement in 2022 that required the agency to develop a nationwide policy on arrests without warrants and traffic stops. The settlement included certain conditions, including immediate release, if Ice arrested someone without a warrant. The settlement terms were valid through May.“While the investigation is ongoing, we know that a traffic violation should never amount to a death sentence,” the joint statement signed by Ramirez and other Chicago political officials said. “We demand a full and thorough investigation into what happened today.”Illinois governor JB Pritzker echoed that statement separately in an online post, saying, the people of the state deserved “a full, factual accounting of what’s happened … to ensure transparency and accountability”.According to Mexico’s consulate in Chicago, Villegas-Gonzalez was a cook and Mexican national. The consulate said it had been in touch with Villegas-Gonzalez’s family and requested more information from Ice about the deadly shooting.A person who knew him said that Villegas-Gonzalez had been dropping off his kids at school, as was his routine, prior to his death and the traffic stop.“He was a good father, looked out for his children – currently he was the one taking care of them,” the person said. “He takes them to school, he arranges to get them picked up – he is with the children nearly full-time. He is not a bad father.”When asked about Villegas-Gonzalez, the person responded about how much care he had for his two young children:“[Silverio was] a person who looks out for his children, takes care of them, and wants to be with them at home, and despite the fact that he was sick. He was undergoing dialysis.“For him to be shot, how he was shot – I don’t think it’s justice.” More